


Specter of Tomorrow

by Fangirlinit



Series: Cosmofleet [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-07-25 22:44:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 95,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7550155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlinit/pseuds/Fangirlinit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma’s future with Regina and Henry proves uncertain upon her return. The battle with the deceitful Admiral George was just a precursor to a larger war, leaving the Swan-Mills clan little time to resolve matters. Shaky alliances and family ties are tested in this struggle to outwit their most elusive enemy yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Earth Date: 2264_  
_Star Date: 2264.83_  
_Planet: Earth_

The yellow speeder bike came to a squeaking halt alongside the curb. It hovered there, a foot off the ground, before Emma cut the engine and it lowered with a droning whine.

“I know, I know,” Emma muttered. She patted the yellow cover guiltily and slid off the seat. “You’ll get a new motivator just as soon as I wrap my next job.”

Sharp clacks proceeded inside and through the turbolift doors. Punching her floor with a fist, Emma leaned back against the handrail. She sighed, daring to look at her reflection. All four walls of the lift flashed back an image of herself in skin tight leather – black as slick oil – and a white shirt, sequined with silver. A long, slinky black waistcoat hung off one shoulder as she shrugged out of the thing. Her typically flowing blonde hair was pulled back in a braid down her back that was so tight it triggered a migraine at her twitching temples. A grim line had formed on her dusky red lips.

She stared a moment too long and received a dirty look for her trouble. It wasn’t quite Emma Swan, and yet there she stood in the flesh.

Alone in the whirring lull of the turbolift, Emma bent over to slip off her heels. She didn’t have to see the straps’ indentations to know the pricey footwear was killing her. Were shapely calves really worth the razor wire cutting into her poor dogs? Her bank account certainly didn’t leave her much choice.

“Blast it.”

The heels earned some blunt force into the carpeted floor before they were snagged up. She kept them out of necessity or else she would find herself without a career. It wouldn’t be the worst thing yet to happen to Emma Swan, but in the 34 years she’d been alive and kicking she had learned that it would not be the last.

Extricating herself from the nightmare ride, Emma trudged down the hallway and pressed her thumb on the biometric lock. It hissed open like a fresh breeze and for the first time that night Emma smiled. Genuinely.

Upon entering, she was greeting with nothing but the reassuring creak underfoot. Waxed hardwood floors whined to her bare feet padding across it. She tossed her heels in the hallway closet, forgotten but not rejected.

Ambling further into the flat, Emma drove her fingers into her hair, disentangling it from the braid. She passed through her living room with a lax expression as if she’d been doing this for years.

The high-rise apartment was the only thing about living in Boston that she appreciated. It was located high enough among the skyscrapers to escape the ground drudgery of humanoid interaction and adequately spacious to make up for the closet-size quarters since.

The square footage was more than she needed or would ever need. In fact, if 18-year-old Emma had known she’d end up on this side of town, rubbing elbows with the moderately wealthy, there would have been enough suspicion to send herself straight to the psych ward.

But working adult Emma learned to adapt to change as she always had. Possessions piled up with every paycheck while her nonexistent interest in the cultural arts blossomed. Walls became occupied by holoprints and paintings alike. Dressers and coffee tables hosted small sculptures, elaborately blown glass vases, and way more breakable décor someone as clumsy as Emma should own.

An expensive selection of vintage wines decorated the rack in her kitchen as did various culinary spices imported from exotics like Dagomir and Bota Baui. Not that Emma spent a lot of time cooking. What she couldn’t get on the run she ordered in. If anything, the lavish kitchen was for show. She did, however, keep an emergency stash of ice cream in the freezer, beer and orange juice in the fridge, and an assortment of snacks stuffed in the pantry. She had lost interest in breakfast. It didn’t seem important in the scheme of things.

She had done well for herself thanks to the business she’d somehow landed in. She took to it like a Lacertan to swamp land. Work in bail bonds turned out to be a fair, honest means of living. In the beginning, Emma had her doubts what with Killian’s sterling advice. He said, in no uncertain terms, that the line of work she was considering was a diseased limb of the scurvy rotten body called “due process.”

Of course what pirate hadn’t had their run-ins with the law? It was a badge of honor among thieves and common nature to get trailed by every living bail bondsman in the galaxy. If you weren’t hunted ruthlessly from one star system to the next, you couldn’t call yourself a pirate. No self-respecting scoundrel like Killian would willing let Emma fall into such an honorable business, but she was determined. She wanted to keep herself on the straight and narrow, as if she owed it to anyone other than herself. Emma called her decision sensible. Killian called it a vaping shame.

Sensible, that’s what Emma had become. She lived her life by sensible and earned that image of the person staring back at her every night up the lift.

Emma left her bedroom, changed from her leather pants and annoying glitter top into much more practical dress. She hummed to the feel of her long cotton sleeve and slinky sweatpants. Though it had been a early night for her, it did not dim her relief upon being back home. A typical night either found her in polished courtrooms, stuffy office buildings, or some hot new restaurant along the east coast. And the company never got any sleazier.

It was hardly a date – more like a trap. Her “date” skipped out on her court appearance only to charm a new online friend into candlelit dinner. New Friend happened to be a very determined, take-no-prisoners bond agent. To make a long story short, Emma got some miles in those four-inch heels and hauled that sorry ass bitch back to court.

Emma mentally dusted her hands off. All in a night’s work, she thought with a smirk.

Getting comfortable for whatever remained of her Friday night proved simple. She powered on her big screen holo with a snap her fingers and flicked her hand in the air to sift through the channels. When she found something of moderate interest to her, she raised the volume and proceeded to the kitchen.

The fridge opened and she blindly reached for a beer. The cool bottle felt reassuring in her hands and she pressed it to her forehead with a guttural moan. Condensation mixed with beads of perspiration.

Why did the woman have to run? Why did they always think they could get away from her? Emma knew escape routes like her life history had been veined through with them. Ironic, she thought, that after so many years of evading hardship and responsibility, she was now the one chasing down a lost cause.

“A beautiful lost cause,” Emma mumbled to herself as she made her way over to the sofa, “but a broke one at that.”

She cracked open the bottle and downed half of it in just three pulls. On the third, a sharp knock came from the door and she sputtered. The froth fizzled and dripped all down her chin and she quickly sopped it up with her sleeve.

“What the hell?!”

Her shout rang throughout the lonesome apartment and received another round of knocks in reply. She shot up off the sofa and stormed for the front door. It was just her luck that after a short-lived steak dinner and several blocks of harassment to her feet, her night had to be further ruined by an unexpected guest.

“Who in blazes…?”

Like her speeder’s dying engine, Emma’s voice dragged off. Her mouth dropped open like a monger fish. Her weight sagged to one foot as she stared openly like the pathetic human she likened herself to.

Her voice came out thin and withering to nothing. “Oh my gods.”

The boy, ten-years-old and smiling from ear to ear, took the shock like a prodigy. When he hugged Emma around her middle, he did so gently as if he expected the stiff response.

Emma stared at the hallway, one hand hesitating behind his head and the other hovering over his back. A hundred questions went through her mind like racing starfighters. She questioned to the point of doubting her own sanity. The hows and whys stacked up like a grossly tall order of pancakes – too golden for her conscience and an upset to her stomach.

Torn between crying and throwing up, she realized she had yet to greet her own son.

Shaking like a faulty ion engine, Emma enfolded herself around him and took pains not to squeeze too tight or too little. She couldn’t know what he wanted from her. She was too afraid to ask. His brown mop of hair brushed her bobbing throat and she nearly choked on a sob. He smelled so good, so clean. He felt soft, much like she did when he turned those puppy eyes on her from over the maple syrup bottle.

“H-henry,” she stuttered, unsure how to phrase it. After all these years of not saying his name, her own voice felt lodged in her throat. “You’re here. You’re here?”

If she were half as spaced out as she felt, Emma would be waking up from this dream. She should have been. She’d experienced this same exact dream for so long it’s as if it had become routine. But why wasn’t she waking up? Why was Henry smiling at her like she was the greatest mother in the universe and not heckling her into one of the seven fiery hells?

Be it a dream, a nightmare, or a revelation, Henry felt real in her arms – as real as the day he lay squalling red and wrinkly in her arms.

Henry withdrew too soon for Emma’s liking and welcomed himself into her home. She didn’t have anything to say about it. How could she? He had every right to walk all over her if it pleased him.

Emma, still frozen in the doorway, hardly noticed his rummaging in the fridge. She didn’t blink back to reality until the door slammed shut.

Henry popped the cap off of the orange juice and took a swig. “I’ll give you a minute while you catch up.” He swiped his mouth with the edge of his jacket sleeve before making himself at home on one of the kitchen stools.

Emma tilted her head to the side, mouth hung open a little. All she could think was how grown up her son looked. He dressed smartly in a pair of ironed blue jeans, Chuck Taylors, and a jacket that fit like a glove and was finished off with a scarf. What a perfect looking kid, she thought.

The sloshing juice carton triggered Emma’s features to concede a frown. What a wise guy. “Hey, use a glass!” It spilled from her before she knew what she was saying.

Henry rolled his eyes with a sigh. He muttered something about home and rules. Emma was still too stunned to pay close attention.

“What are you doing here?” Emma asked, breathless. Her face expressed myriad forms of shock, terror, and pure bliss.

Brow raised, Henry responded with the perfect class of sarcasm. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

Emma’s brows scrunched. “When did you start acting like a smart alek?”

“When you left with me with Regina.”

The way he said it didn’t quite scratch the surface of malice. Despite the wound Emma spent four years reopening, the little smirk she received seemed to convey Henry’s resilience. No hard feelings, huh? Emma would disagree. She had not punished herself nearly as much as she deserved. She needed Henry to say those words with anguish. She needed to see her betrayal in his eyes and feel it burn through her skin at hearing him say she left him behind. She would have gladly have given him the vibroknife to resurrect that pain – if it pleased him.

“Okay,” Emma sighed and shrugged as if giving up. She sealed the front door closed and trudged up to the kitchen island, meeting Henry’s eyes from across it. “You must have some questions for me.”

“How long have you been on Earth? And why do you live here in Boston?”

The questions hit Emma like a blaster shot to the chest. Of course he led with one of the most difficult. Emma hesitated in answering because she still was coming to terms with it. The underlying issue didn’t escape her either. The moment he asked, she felt rocked to her core and wavering on the brink of collapse. It resounded in her head: _Why do you live in Boston and not with your own son?_

Emma wet her lips, shifting on her socked feet. “Two years. I’ve been on Earth two years. Boston for a year and a half.”

“What do you do? I mean, how can you afford this place?”

“I do some work for a bail bonds agency here in the city. It pays well and I keep my own hours.”

“What’s that? Bail bonds…?”

“It’s just a fancy word for bounty hunting. But a bit more legitimate.”

“Oh.” He fell silent for a moment. “Do you arrest people?”

Emma’s lips tightened again before she spoke. “No, not really.”

“Do you like your job?”

“I guess so.”

Henry’s eyes panned down. “You’re not really answering any of my questions,” he mumbled.

“What do you mean? Of course I am.”

“You’re talking to me, but you’re not _talking_ to me.”

His eyes soothed Emma’s panic. He pleaded by those big blue eyes she never had the will to turn down, not in the past when it was past his bedtime and he mumbled sleepy requests like “One more stowy, Momma.” Now her little pilot was all grown, self-tied shoes and all, and asking for one more story. It was the one Emma had dreaded telling him, but having him here changed that. She couldn’t evade him now, not when he was asking her point blank. Not when he looked so lost without explanation.

“You’re right. I’m not. I’m sorry.” Emma looked down at her drumming fingers on the marble top. She had tried and failed to mask the casualness. The alternative didn’t suit her. If she allowed herself to make a connection with this child, she would lose it. If she allowed him in, she would feel the weight of a thousand wrongs done unto him.

“Okay, so…” Hedging by threading her fingers through her hair, Emma squinted to find the words. “So after I left the _Storybrooke_ I did a lot of traveling. It didn’t do much thinking – just flying. I went from system to system, spending nights in foreign hotels, sometimes a hovercar. I hitched a ride with these miners one time and woke up a few hundred credits short. Money wasn’t really an issue because there was always room in the cargo hold, but I always slept with one eye open from then on.”

Emma chuckled through a cringe at the memory of having lost all her money that night. Truth be told, she had dropped more credits in a card game than to those grubby hands.

Henry’s brows inched up as she spoke. He hadn’t have a clue where she’d been all this time, but to hear his own mother was slumming it on backworlds like a bum?

“So you were broke?” Henry asked, astonished. “How were you able to buy clothes and food and stuff?”

“Hey, at least I wasn’t a slave to monthly rent. Living out of one suitcase didn’t really bother me. I relocated a lot growing up, not knowing where I’d be from one day to the next. I liked it. I thought that was a normal lifestyle. And to live like that again…” Emma paused, eyebrows pinching together. “It… well, I guess it felt like freedom, but it wasn’t the same. You know?”

Henry’s discomfort showed in the twisting mouth, but he nodded all the same.

“When I got really strapped for credits I called in a favor. Killian Jones helped set me up with a few inner rim contractors – the inner rim is known to be slightly more honest.”

“What did you do?”

“I was hired out as a tracker. Rare objects, mostly. The kind of possessions people leave hidden or locked up after they die.”

Henry perked up at the mention of ‘rare objects.’ “Like treasure?”

Emma smirked. The kid hadn’t changed at all. “Sort of like.”

“Cool.”

The smirk sagged. Emma fought control over her facial expression and couldn’t know if she succeeded or not. Her cheeks were frozen and burning at the same time. “Cool,” she murmured with a nod of agreement. “When work dried up, Killian roped me into the occasional side job. We had some adventures, that’s for sure.” Emma’s face split into a smile, a first that night and some nights since.

This brightened Henry further. Rising to his tiptoes, he hunched on the bar to get closer. “Did you guys get into fights?”

“Many.”

“Did you get hurt bad?”

Emma snorted, hardly holding back on smug sentimentality. “Killian earned a scar on his left ear from a blaster graze.”

Seeing her so close to how he remembered her, smirking and cavalier, triggered a sadness in Henry he tried so many years to avoid. It proved impossible to ignore, but to see it in the flesh made his chest prickle. A graveness fell upon him like a wet blanket. “You _really_ didn’t get hurt?”

Emma detected the unspoken sentiment. Of course he knew her well enough – remembered her well enough – to understand that Emma would downplay the more perilous events. She’d fix a brave face in light of any battle wounds be it a paper cut or a near-death-experience on a hovertram going one hundred miles an hour. That particular vibroknife dual took a few years off her life if that near fall was anything to go by.

“It was years ago.” She shook her head, offering him soft certainty. “There’s nothing for you to worry about.”

“So you were a bounty hunter for two years. What made you come Earthside?”

“I wanted something more convenient. Being a bail bonds agent gave me steady work and a place to crash at night. While jetting around the galaxy had its upsides, the years had been catching up to me. I needed a change.”

Henry’s face screwed up like he’d just ate something sour. “That’s something old people say.”

“Hate to break it to you, kid, but I’m not that young anymore.”

“Why Boston?”

He said it so innocently, head tipped and voice peaked like the preadolescent boy he was. He knew as she did that “Why Boston” was the one thing that would decide the course of present events. Where she made home hinged upon their relationship and their future. The question of “Why Boston,” which was located just a few miles from where Henry called home, had been something Emma asked herself every day since signing her lease.

Emma noticed the orange juice carton still in his hands, so she walked to the cabinet while she talked. She wasn’t deflecting, she convinced herself. She just couldn’t look him in the eyes and lie to him. “Familiar territory, I guess. Cosmofleet Academy is a comfort, and having it close by reminds me of the good times.”

“Has it?”

Breath suspended in her lungs, Emma raised her brows expectantly. “Has what?”

“Has the academy given you good memories?”

Emma stared. “Mostly,” she replied and slid the glass over. Her hand went up to scratch the back of her neck, clearing her throat. She returned to her place at the bar and leaned on her forearms. She watched him pour the juice, unassisted like the mature kid he was, and panned occasionally to her cuticles. “Henry, how did you find me?” She carried it out so methodically it must have sounded like she didn’t trust her own voice. Her gaze burned into her nails, which she picked and rubbed mindlessly.

A drop of juice slipped down his chin and he caught it with his sleeve, surprised that something like _juice_ could escape him. It was such a Swan move.

“The Holonet,” Henry answered simply.

“Okay, but how did you get here?”

“Well, there’s no mass transportation where I live. Misthaven is pretty small, so I had to walk to the bus stop.”

“How did you get the credits?”

“I borrowed Regina’s credit card.”

Emma’s jaw dropped. “Christ, seriously?”

“I _borrowed_ it. She’ll get it back as soon as we return.”

“ _We?_ ”

If Emma’s mouth could open further it would have smacked the kitchen counter. This was not happening. He did not come there to drag her to simpleton Small Town USA. He didn’t seriously think she’d agree to this, right?

“Henry…” she started, blinking erratically to this nonsense, “I can’t just up and leave. I have clients that rely on me.”

“But you said you keep your own hours.”

“… Yeah.”

Henry shrugged, smiling like he had the whole thing planned, which Emma wouldn’t put past him. “So take a few days off. Hey, I’ll show you this cool McDonalds on the way. It’s pirate-themed with boat shaped seats that hover around. We’ll get a Big Mac and milkshakes and eat in the car and everything.”

His eyes were fantastically wide. The very idea of eating in the car was an outlandish concept, yet something he’d always wanted to try. This was his first chance to slip away from ever-watchful eyes, and he was _not_ going to let a drive thru adventure go to waste.

“I…” Emma’s mouth opened and closed. Finally, she folded her arms over her chest and put her metaphorical foot down. “You know what? No.”

Henry’s dream of milkshakes and burgers faded. “No?”

“Yeah, no. I’m not going to Fogheaven with you to –“

“ _Misthaven_.”

“Whatever. No, we’re not doing this. Regina would go nuclear. She’s probably already sent out a special forces team to find you.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Emma tugged her chin down in a firm nod. “Damn right.”

Henry nodded. “So you should probably drive me home. I mean, I could take the bus back…”

Oh… Emma thought, eyes narrowing. “Kid, you are going to have a career in politics. And I seriously don’t know how to feel about that.”

He snickered into his juice glass.

“But you have to understand: I am driving you back – that’s it. Don’t make any more of this than it is.”

Genuine confusion weighed Henry’s features to a frown. “What do you mean?”

Emma took a deep breath. “I mean,” she gestured to the apartment with all its common clutter and lived in quality, “this is where I live, Henry.” She bit her lip, careful not to use the word ‘home’ or she might risk drudging up a conflict that neither of them were ready for.

In a way, Emma needed Henry to know why she never came back, but that would force him to confront the magnitude of his abandonment. She didn’t want to rush him (or herself for that matter), so she dared not bring it up or reveal where her home really lied.

“Look,” sighed Emma, “I know we haven’t see each other in a while. It must have been just as hard on you as it has been on me. As surprising as it is to find you on my doorstep, it is a _good_ surprise. If you want to hang out with me, that’s fine. If you want a relationship, I can accept that.” She tipped her head, fighting back the sea gradually filling her eyes. “I’d love that. And you know how much I love you, Henry. But just because we found each other doesn’t mean we’re going to live happily ever after. I’ve raised you better than to think that’s how the galaxy works. I have responsibilities here in Boston, you have Mist… whatever. You can’t be skipping class just to be with me.”

“But it’s hardly a school night!” complained Henry, whiny voice and all.

Emma frowned, having to peek at her fridge calendar to be sure. “Tomorrow’s Friday.”

“Friday’s are basically a weekend.”

It was hilarious, really, the lengths he would go to stretch the truth. Cutting school, staying up past his bedtime, skipping homework… Emma hadn’t gotten much of this when she raised Henry because he was barely past first grade. Though she hadn’t looked forward to those tantrums back then, she couldn’t deny they were an essential hallmark of parenting. Missing out on the negative as well as the positive aspects of raising her child haunted Emma.

She narrowed his eyes at him, making fun of his poor defense. “Fridays are Fridays.”

Henry rolled his eyes.

The very way he did it reminded Emma of Regina. It shouldn’t have shocked her, or caused a spike of jealousy. Kids imprinted on the people they were around most often – she remembered that in one of her academy psych courses. Being around the bossy queen of scorn had to have made some impression on the boy (rolling eyes among other cues she’d noticed).

“This is where my life is now,” Emma asserted quietly. She convinced herself it to be true. The mantra had been repeated often enough that she didn’t stutter. “Boston is where the work is. I know you want to be close by, and I want that too, but I can’t just relocate. Living in that town… well, Regina wouldn’t like that.”

Henry’s brows quivered with the extent of his frown. “How do you know what Regina would or wouldn’t like?”

Emma blinked back in shock. This was the first instance Henry was rebelling against her, and with such spite. Even as a toddler when he didn’t get what he wanted it was just a matter of batting his eyes. No reason to resort to petulant foot stomps and back talk.

Noticing her reaction, Henry softened his tone. “People change, Mom. You’ll never know it until you see it.”

 _Mom._ It was the first time she’d ever heard that word from his mouth. It had always been ‘Momma’ or ‘Ma.’

Combatting the sting from her eyes, Emma sucked in a breath and let it out easy. Nodding with a sense of emotionless relief, she gestured to the bedroom.

“Give me a minute to change. I’ll drive you back, but let’s not expect anything, okay?”

It wasn’t really a matter of whether or not Regina changed. Everything from here to Misthaven hinged on Emma and if she had justified four years of soul searching.

* * *

The floating highway bulbs had a strobe light effect as Emma’s hovercar zoomed on. They had been driving for an hour and the fog had grown as they neared their destination. The roiling mist had an eerie effect on Emma who happened to be the only one who saw the irony.

Henry, calculated as ever (or just of late), milked Emma’s cordiality for all it was worth. He drilled her for stories from her piracy days, what treasure she hunted down, which enemies she exchanged blaster shots with, everything. It proved difficult, though, when only half of the company showed their enthusiasm.

As she did back in her Boston apartment, Emma filled Henry in on the past four years like she was filling out a job application. She remained painfully detached but friendly nonetheless. There were moments when her voice lost durasteel, when it edged and caught at a junction in her past that prevented her from explaining why, for example, she never sent Henry a card for his seventh birthday or the subsequent ones after.

Feeling a sense of feebleness twisting her gut, Emma drove her story on as she did the vehicle they sailed along in. Henry didn’t seem disappointed to get the child friendly version nor did he notice what she was leaving out: the thoughts, feelings, and regrets that made up most of those four years.

In between stories, Emma failed to settle back into memory. It was like trying to get comfortable on a lumpy sofa. No amount of repositioning could get her to sit well with what she had done.

Emma Swan – the Emma Swan of a foregone time – had lived a very different life than the one she led before saying goodbye to the _Storybrooke_ a second time. Four years ago and on the tipping point of war, she had found herself a no man in no man’s land. She had the title, sure, and a fan club to her annoyance, but sitting in that fighter between two armadas and sweating bullets over how to unit an entire faction made her feel like a nobody. She wasn’t meant to lead that fight. She hadn’t the training to.

Even after it was all said and done, when the Freedom Raiders had been persuaded and Cosmofleet came to their senses, Emma still had her reservations. Regina’s speech to the fleet commanders had been a riveting example of leadership and inspiration, but it rustled up doubts in Emma she could no longer push to the sidelines. Regina unknowingly forced her to confront her future. Emma realized something paramount to her life and those around her: she wasn’t qualified to lead the life she had led – not as a first officer and not as a legendary hero. Regina spoke of the stuff Emma just simply did not have in supply.

In hindsight, Emma had hope that her captain could have limped her along a few more years and taught her how to become a commander of her very own starship, but eventually her patience would have run out. Emma would have been made bitter, Regina would have felt resentment, and it would not have ended well.

Happily ever after hadn’t been something Emma truly believed in, yet she could not accept all those relationships she made on the _Storybrooke_ to fall apart because of her juvenile behavior. Something had to be done before it all went nuclear. Something had to change. It was only at the galaxy’s great sigh of relief and subsequent celebration that Emma finally made a decision about where her life would go from there.

It would be a bold face lie to say those four years without Henry and the _Storybrooke_ had flown by. Frankly, it was a kind of torture she couldn’t describe. Somewhere along the way Emma lost hope of every finding that person everyone needed her to be. After all the endless rationalizations and vehement denials of selfishness, Emma finally came home.

But it hadn’t been the home she was looking for. That became clear soon enough. When she returned planetside, Henry and Regina were her first and only destination. She looked them up on the Holonet and sped her way through two traffic violations to arrive at a house in a quaint suburb of Maine.

Gaping out the windshield, Emma had realized ‘house’ was a serious understatement. The monstrosity was painted white with black shutters and enclosed by a neatly sheared hedge. It had a second floor balcony, a trellis clambered with ivy, and pillars, _pillars_ of gods’ sakes! It was like one fourth of the Old World White House, and her son had been living there all this time.

The mansion’s splendor offended her a bit. Emma could not give this kind of wealth to Henry even if she took every job offered to her. But she wasn’t stupid enough to think he cared about more for a house than her. Henry wasn’t the shallow, materialistic child she raised him to be. The offense she took to seeing Mills Manor didn’t stem so much from Henry’s loss, but her own. She knew what it felt like to live in poverty and could not stand for her own child to grow up like that. She wanted better for him.

After two years of wondering, Emma finally had proof. Life was good to Henry, perhaps even better for him. It hadn’t been the reunion she hoped for, but to see her son play at the park with his new guardian, clinging to her in fits and giggles… This Henry was happy. This Henry didn’t belong to her any longer. He clutched at someone who could tend to his needs and expand his heart. Henry had that woman, that unrecognizably content woman, who had already given him so much and didn’t look to be slowing down and whom loved him just as much as he loved her.

What Emma saw that day made a crack in her heart. After years of yearning, Regina had her family now. She was brimming over with happiness, and Emma didn’t have the spite to hate her for it. The overwhelming joy on that face told her that Regina had no more room in her heart for an orphan and wayward spacer like Emma Swan.

Lodged in time without a path to follow, Emma turned her back on that family in the park. She broke her promise like the selfish girl Regina accused her as, tucked tail, and never returned to Misthaven.

Until now.

Emma’s thumbs drummed an anxious rhythm on the steering wheel. She shot sneaking glances from the corner of her eye to gage Henry’s silence. He had since nodded off, bless him, and was completely ignorant of her prying visitation.

The viscous fog began to obscure Emma’s vision so she powered up her forward beams. The dual swaths of light cut a path in the distance. It had been a long, lonely road after having descended from the airway to hover along solid ground. Emma squinted in her rearview mirror to see the same fog she’d been flying through for the past two hours. Henry wasn’t kidding when he said his town didn’t get a lot of traffic. Misthaven was a ghost town, and the one road leading into it a forgotten piece of history.

Sure enough, the hovercar’s headlights picked up a sign ahead. Some of the letters looked bolder than others, evidencing its frequent restoration. So Old World it appeared ready to crumble at the first passing car, Emma shook her head. What in seven hells was she doing here?

At their passing of the “Welcome to Misthaven” sign, Emma nudged Henry awake. He had always been a heavy sleeper. Not much could rouse the kid unless it involved the aromas of a hearty breakfast.

Grumbling at having been startled awake, Henry looked around the interior of the car. A rolling Styrofoam coffee cup tapped against his shoe, there was wear and tear on the dashboard, and the seat cushion was so inflated it was as if it hadn’t been sat in. When he saw the blonde-haired woman next to him, he registered the past few hours with a grin plastered across his proud, boyish face.

Emma suffered a pang at seeing him scrub his eyes by the fists of his hands. She missed out on so much and lost the opportunity to impress on him the little things like pinching her face to show disgust, hooking her thumbs in her back pockets in a moment of boredom, or stomping her boots extra hard when she had a vibroax to grind with a superior officer.

Despite the loss of all that, he still woke up like her little pilot. At least that much hadn’t changed about her baby boy.

Emma gripped the steering wheel and tossed her head back to keep the tears at bay. Henry gave a shake of his head and made nothing of it. It was just that hair flippy thing girls did. Gods knew Regina did it _all the time._

“We’re almost there,” Henry said, straightening up in his seat. “You’re going to walk me to the door, right?”

“Y-you want me to get out of the car?”

“Yeah, that’s the idea.”

Emma squirmed in her seat. “I thought I just agreed to dropping you off.”

“Well, I didn’t agree to not hearing from you all this time, so you can do me this one favor.”

“Hey, you know you’re going to see me again. We can Skype after school tomorrow. Until then, I think I’ll just drop you off, how about that?” Emma’s expression turned to some warped version between a smile and a cringe.

“Are you spaced out?” Henry practically squealed, making Emma wince further. “You have to come! If Regina knew I came back by myself, she’d go berserk!”

“I’m sure it will be okay.”

“She’s going to kill me!”

Emma cackled and tipped her head condescendingly. “I highly doubt it.”

“How do you know what’s she’s capable of? You haven’t known her the past four years.”

“I can’t just take you at your word that she’s been a doting, nonaggressive part of your life?”

Henry was shaking his head. “She might do something to me. You better come with.”

An extreme roll of the eyes and two intersections later they rolled to a stop at the house. The sight of it stirred him like no smelling salts could. Emma hadn’t even put the vehicle in park before Henry was ripping open the door.

Emma stared after his fleeing form and realized that this was more than a house. To Henry, this was home, the place where his heart lived now. And to further instill that message, a woman came bursting out the front door and sprinting towards him as fast as stilettos allowed.

Feeling dead to the galaxy, Emma bucked up the courage to get out of the car and approach the gate that swung restless in Henry’s wake.

Not a second after those heels came to a halt, Regina barreled into him, desperately out of breath. She surrounded the boy in her arms. Her mouth hung open in awe of his return yet with an enduring sense of dread that this might not be real. The concern frazzling her every nerve had her burying her face in his hair, bombarding him with messy kisses while she shut her eyes in gratitude.

Emma steeled her way up the path and stopped just short of the reunion. She stood there, shuffling her feet and shifting her eyes from the ground to some vague spot on Regina (not her eyes). She hooked her thumbs in her back pockets and looked about as unwelcome as she felt.

Henry seemed none too bothered at being suffocated. There were no awkward limbs finding a way in the embrace, no whining remarks or complaints. Content to just snuggle into the warm body, he went about it so unguarded, so unlike a Swan.

When they parted, Regina took him by the shoulders and stared him down. “ _Henry_ ,” she intoned heavily with equal parts relief and admonishment, “what were you thinking? You cannot simply leave like that without consulting me. You could have been hurt or lost. I was worried sick!”

Her voice strained and wobbled with the elevated tone of her worry. It finally occurred to Henry how badly his little stunt affected her. He hated seeing her cry and to have her on the verge of breaking down like this shattered his very heart.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled gravely. She forgave him instantly with a tilted head and a touch to his cheek. He instantly brightened. “But I wasn’t lost. I got a ride.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder in nonchalance.

Regina looked over his shoulder to see none other than Emma Swan. She had to stifle a gasp. Before she could register what she was doing, her eyes drew down Emma’s figure. At the back of her mind she noted the unchanged curves and muscularity with all its well-defined qualities. Emma wore a leather jacket, white top, skinny blue jeans, and boots so common they could pass for a homeless hand-me-down. Regina had to stifle a growl at the red monstrosity. Emma had the gall to wear that gods damned jacket when she knew her captain hated its very existence.

Eyes broadening to the once over, Emma noticed with horror the clothes she had threw on. It had been an unconscious choice, a mistake really, and one her captain would surely ream her out for. Vaporize me, Emma thought, and throw me in the seventh hell. This was not how she expected to spend her last night on Earth.

“Hey.”

Regina responded by pursing her lips. Her eyes didn’t reveal much, even as they were forced off Emma’s. She swallowed before turning for the door. “Come inside.”

Emma opened her mouth in hesitation. Was that an invitation? Or was she talking to Henry?

“You as well, Miss Swan.”

Oh, Emma thought. The title disclosed more about how the course of the evening would follow and Emma would be remiss to say she was a little disappointed.

Regina sighed at the heavy thuds of heels dragging.

Next to her, Henry smirked. The recurrent grip Regina’s hand was giving his shoulder revealed more than she would have admitted out loud.

Once inside, Regina instructed Emma to wait in the study while she put Henry to bed. She said so without the slightest eye contact. Emma couldn’t blame her.

“Wait,” Henry insisted.

Pausing midstride on the stairs, Regina gripped the banister and watched as he surged back to Emma.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Henry looked up at Emma with those big blue eyes, “right?”

Emma smiled despite the question behind it. What he was actually asking made her taste bile at the back of her throat. He wanted to know if he would ever see her again, if she would leave him _again_.

“Course, kid.” She merrily nudged a finger under his chin and gave a soft laugh.

Henry returned the grin and scrambled for the stairway, which had been occupied not seconds ago.

When Emma finally ripped her frown away, she passed through the doorway as instructed. The study was made warm by a lit fireplace. Flames sputtered up from the glowing firewood and gave Emma a foreign sense of peace. It didn’t last as long as she’d like. Her gaze became drawn to the framed holograms decorating the mantle. Flickering movement of a boy in full winter gear caught her eye. It was Henry – six, maybe seven-years-old – gripping the reigns of a sled as it weaved down a slope. The ride was about as steep as someone of Regina’s protective nature would allow for him to venture.

Breath held in suspension, Emma stared at the hologram as it looped continuously, she remembered to breathe again she dared a look at the next one. This one caused her heart to leap into her throat. Her eyes yawned open like a pair of green wormholes. The hologram depicted a round, frosted cake with an absurd amount of candles. There was no doubt by the haphazard way in which they stuck into the cake that Henry decorated it. But, to Emma, the cake wasn’t the primary subject, not when the woman it was being bequeathed to had stolen her breath away.

Regina’s mouth hung open in shock and awe. Her eyes sparkled as she held the pose, giggling in spite of the ache in her cheeks. It was exaggerated and silly and so unlike the Captain Mills of Emma’s past.

Bafflement had Emma blinking at the sight. This hologram did not match the model citizen and dignified officer she had known all these years. Regina never seemed to be the type of person who broadcasted their birthday. She hardly took a personal day off of duty much less celebrated one day to herself out of the entire year.

Emma couldn’t piece together the puzzle that was Regina Mills any more now than she had four years ago in a turbolift on the _Storybrooke_. Regina had been right about so many things, chief among them being Emma’s not knowing the woman off duty and out of uniform. It embarrassed Emma to reddening cheeks and sagging shoulders that it took her till now to realize.

One thing about Regina that did not surprise was how her bond with Henry had strengthened. While it was true that Emma had only seen her captain offer affection around the boy, there was something different about the way Regina’s hands clawed through his hair that night, how she stared into his eyes with an intensity that could power a solar system. It was love – Emma recognized it because as a mother it was the stuff keeping her own heart from giving out. There had been pure, unadulterated love in Regina’s eyes and Emma wouldn’t be shocked to know she carried it with her wherever she went.

It became especially clear from the holograms Emma couldn’t stray from that Regina and Henry had taken care of each other these past four years. Henry’s birth mother might not have been around, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have that kind of relationship with his new guardian. There was bound to be some kind of deep connection there.

Suddenly, something heart wrenching occurred to Emma. Since Henry showed up earlier that night he had been sparing with physical contact. He had only instigated that one hug and that was it. But then here comes Regina, sprinting from out of the house, and Henry just clung to every part of her. They gravitated towards one another as if she were the only moon in his orbit.

Emma’s breath rattled in her chest as she looked through the timeline of holograms. A perfect little family, so healthy, so safe, so happy. She did _not_ see this coming. Ironically, it was the last thing that occurred to her when making her decision to leave all those years ago. It just didn’t click in that thick, vaporized little brain of hers that they might not want her to come back.

The pictures staring back at her with all their unabashed honesty fulfilled every question she ever wracked herself over. The two loves of her life had moved on. They didn’t _need_ her anymore.

When Regina returned, she closed the heavy door behind her. “Thank you for bringing him home.” There was no flinching to it.

Spinning away from the mantelpiece, Emma cleared the thickness from her throat and said, “No problem,” and then frowned at her words because this was just too weird.

“I take it he blindsided you with his visit?”

“Well, it’s not like I _expected_ him to show up on my doorstep in the middle of the night.”

Regina’s eyes met Emma’s in a durasteel look before they flit away. The light from the fireplace cast flickering shadows on her face, leaving any defined appearance up to Emma’s imagination. Regina used a fire iron – her favorite ruby studded poker from her Presidio office – to tend the fire.

The stirred flames helped Emma gage Regina’s expression better. She quickly wished the shadows back because there was nothing but a blank, emotionless face – a shell of the woman Regina used to be. Blame caused Emma’s chest to tighten.

“Does he do this often?”

Regina snorted. “What, knock on the doors of ex-fleet officers?”

It could have been worse. She could have said ex-mothers. Emma shot her a withering gaze and explained, “Sneaking out after dark without leaving a memo.”

“It seems to run in the family.”

The growl rolled deep in Emma’s chest. “I followed protocol the first time and sent in my two weeks’ notice. And as far as…” She floundered in the sound of crackling flames and a ticking mantle clock. “… At least I checked in with you before leaving.”

Regina tipped her head to that, albeit condescendingly. “It is better than a memo.”

“Can we cut the crap, please? Gods, Regina.”

“Fine.” Regina crossed her arms tightly over her chest as if to ward off something. “You can start by explaining why you’re here.”

“Seriously? I came to drop Henry off. Why do you think I came here?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps to put ideas in his head about how long you’ll be sticking around this time? I know how little you think your behavior affects that boy. Really, dear. Don’t think I haven’t seen how you tense around him.”

Emma gaped in the rapidly thickening tension. This was the woman she forced her love upon. Regina had rejected her in no uncertain terms, so to be unwillingly confronted by her years later was nothing if not awkward. Awkward, Emma thought humorlessly. What an understatement of the century.

“Okay,” settled Emma, raising her hands. “It’s obvious I haven’t been around lately –“

“ _Lately?_ ”

“A long while. With all that time and separation comes confusion. And I know how you don’t like assumptions.”

She remembered that at least. Regina just stared, grinding her heel into the soft, area rug.

“If you care to ask me where I’ve been all these years, I’d be happy to fill you in, but you don’t look to be in the mood for a long story.”

“How perceptive.”

Emma bit down on a groan and drove on. “While I vowed to do some soul searching during my time away, I found myself more often than not employed in searching for other people’s souls. When Henry asked, I gave him the impression that I work as a bail bonds agent.” Eye contact with her part-time superior officer and full-time etiquette compass became too much. She scratched her neck idly before waving it in a rolling motion. “What I didn’t tell him was that I still jet around to do the occasional side job.”

Regina pinned her with a glare that felt awfully familiar and air quoted, “Would ‘side job’ be your euphemism for piracy?”

“It’s not like the whole business is steeped in illegitimacy, Regina. The contractors Killian’s set me up with have made tons of safe, honest deals.”

Brown eyes soared up. “Mm-hm, name one.”

A steady tick-tick-tick filled the air. It seemed to grow louder by the second. Emma glanced at the clock behind Regina and swore she read it earlier than this night felt. She sighed long and arduously. “Look, this is not how I wanted to tell you, but now seems like no better time. There is something I found for a client. It was my most recent job. Not exactly an object or a keepsake, but data.”

Growing slowly enthralled by this turn of events, Regina furrowed her brow. “Intelligence?”

“For a friend of our mutual friend, Zane Anderson.”

Regina’s hands dropped to fists at her sides. “That’s where you’ve been all this time? With the blasted Freedom Raiders?!”

Oh, Emma realized in panic. “Not what you think,” she defended pointedly. A cursing Regina was a solar storm in the making. If she didn’t reverse course she’d find herself in a vicious black hole of condemnation à la Regina Mills. “My client wasn’t a Raider per say. He dealt more in the public sector… government stuff…” Emma’s eyes rolled up and over with feigned nonchalance. “… Kind of along the lines of, say, Cosmofleet?”

“Well, well,” Regina intoned sarcastically, “isn’t that heartening to hear? What other higher echelons have you been fraternizing with? The gods’ forsaken United Planets?!”

“Wow. Cool your –“

Regina silenced her with a single raised finger. “ _Don’t_ make mechanic jokes.”

Emma had the sense to feel guilty about that and mumbled a paltry, “Sorry. You could be a bit more understanding. I’m not asking for much here. All I meant to say is I did this job for someone in the fleet who needed to recon a sector of the Outer Reach. The Council has been playing it so blasted safe lately that some commanders have been hiring outside help.”

“To do their dirty work, Emma.” This time, Regina’s stubbornness came with a measure of concern. “You surely must grasp that doing any job, great or small, for Cosmofleet does not come without price.”

“I do, which is why I made it my last job.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, you’ll be happy to know I grew a few more brain cells since we last saw each other.”

Regina barely had the sense to dampen her swelling pride. To betray any sign of what was occurring inside her would just complicate things further. “This is not the time to being discussing this. It’s late, I’m tired, and that boy scared the life out of me today.”

Emma watched as she turned away, covering a still racing heart with her hand. Her face was worn with a gravity of concern all mothers felt around narrowly avoided disasters.

Steeling herself, Emma shuffled her feet and fought the wince out of her voice. “We should probably talk about him.”

Regina’s head snapped up. It was like she was struck by lightening. Her eyes never looked so alive, her body never so emblazoned with… something close to protectiveness. “If by _him_ you mean Henry then I’m not entirely sure we should. In fact, I don’t think you have any place in the conversation after taking off like you did. You lost the right to have that conversation when you left _him_ with _me_.”

If Emma had been standing any closer she would have caught fire, and not from the healthy flames licking at the firewood but from the boiling woman before her. “It was either leave him or make him wait around for his mom to grow up and take charge. I couldn’t ask that of him. I still believe this was for his own good.”

“If you had an iota of courage to stick around, you would have realized it wasn’t.”

“I wasn’t good enough for him!” Emma barked, letting a bit of steam off.

Anger filled her cheeks red. She had a lot of things to get off her chest and the worst of it slipped from her grasp quicker than she realized. Regina was right: Emma had no business asking about Henry. She cut all ties like the irresponsible girl she was – no transmission, no hologram, not a single birthday or Christmas card. Emma carried the shame as punishment. Not even her destiny as the Savior compared to that weight.

Before, she had been terrified of reclaiming her son back. She missed out on so much and before she knew it Henry would be a teenager. He was growing so fast and Emma just didn’t have it in her to raise a child she abandoned. In a way, she made the same decision her parents made for her. They left, never to return. The fact that Henry had memories of her just made it all the more agonizing.

But with Regina’s protective nature burning like a supergiant star, Emma went on the offensive. Now she had a change of heart. Regina was sparking a fight in her, a will to claim what was rightfully hers. Be it jealousy or a sense of responsibility, Emma wanted her son back.

“I wasn’t what he needed me to be then, but I am now,” she said firmly. “I’ve been taking care of myself like I promised, but I can’t just keep going on like this.” Emma’s vision clouded with unshed tears. Her voice shook with the realization of just how much she needed him and how she could have possible survived this long without his love. “I need to be there for him. After everything, I am bound to make it up to him by _staying_ for one gods damned minute and _asking_ about _my son_.”

The challenge had Regina’s fists clenching and unclenching at her sides. Panic flickered across her face. “I have been Henry’s legal guardian for three years and five months. What am I supposed to do? Just hand him over to you?”

“I’m his mother, Regina.”

“Not since you threw him at me. You couldn’t shoot out of that hanger fast enough.”

“I _left_ him with you because I trust you. Gratitude doesn’t begin to explain how I feel. I thank you for all you’ve done for him, but I’m back now and I think it’s time we discuss accommodations.”

“You picked one hell of a time to come to your senses.” Tipping her head condescendingly, Regina shot back, “How ironic that your little about-face occurred on the night _your_ _son_ came to find _you_.”

“Well, I have an ironic sense of humor!” Emma’s arms flew out for emphasize. “So shoot me!”

“I’d take too much pleasure in it, dear.”

“He belongs with me.” Emma gritted her teeth and repeated more forcefully. “I’m his mother!”

“As am I!”

The testimony bellowed through the study, stunning its occupants. It flew from Regina’s lips with such passion it could have had the walls quaking and whimpering in fear.

Emma and Regina, eyes wide and chests heaving, both took a step back. It was unconscious, as if at the back of their minds they knew this was too dangerous. Love and friendship, honor and family, it all had a way of bringing them to the precipice.

Regina’s quite unapologetic expression spurred Emma to stand down. There was no going up against a mother’s love, after all. She combed her hand through her hair, wondering how two people like them had gotten to this place. She and Regina had always run hot and cold with each other, but this was just blasted unreal.

Feeling the heat of the fire on her face, Emma realized she needed to get out of there. She needed to breathe and not see those dazzling faces burning into her from on the mantelpiece. Neutral ground would pose her no threat and would not leave her heart rattling in its cage.

“We shouldn’t decide anything,” Emma said softly, keeping her searching eyes on the floor. “As you said, it’s late.”

“Yes, it is.”

Regina’s annoyance faltered in light of Emma’s downcast gaze. Her eyes were dark yet shining in the orange glow of the flames and there were new lines and crinkles around her eyes and mouth. Emma’s aged face saw many things the past four years, but Regina realized that nothing in what she’d experienced in the known galaxy could write that kind of sorrow into her face like the loss of her son.

If only they know how similar their thoughts ran. With Henry’s well-being at stake, the self-subscribed parents cursed their impulsivity. If Emma tore him away from Regina, that distance, emotional and physical, would damage him irrevocably. It wasn’t fair to drag him from the decent home he’d ever had or the woman who fed and clothed and cared for him better than Emma ever could. If Regina kept him from his own mother, then she’d run the risk of pushing Henry away from her forever. Henry wouldn’t forgive either of them.

Also in jeopardy was Emma’s and Regina’s well-being. They each had a hand in raising him and molding his psyche as only a loving guardian and parent could. They both considered themselves to be a significant part of his life.

They came to some wordless agreement (in their way of diverting eyes and shuffling feet) that they were avoiding the issue rather than just postponing it for a while. It was preferable to opening up old resentments like battle wounds. They couldn’t know just how long it would be avoided.

Emma chanced a glance and blinked back at what she saw. She couldn’t know how she missed it before but Regina looked severely worn out. She hardly held herself up to the height of a captain anymore. The woman had probably been pacing the floor like a saberwolf earlier. If Emma had been in her position, she too would have been tied up in knots about the safety of Henry.

“I’d like to see him in the morning. Before he goes to school, that is.” Emma’s mouth hesitated, mind fumbling over itself. “If you don’t think that’s a good idea… then I guess I could call him later?”

Regina took a moment to consider. Her brows came together in a frown. “I don’t know…”

Nodding quickly as if expecting the outcome, Emma settled with an, “Okay, then.” She spun on her heel and made quickly for the front door. “Comm me when you make a decision about Henry.” She stopped in the foyer, unaware of the pair of heels arresting from behind. “I’d like to see him… talk to him or whatever, but if he’s not ready or you don’t think…” She shook her head and rushed for the door. “Whatever. I’m going to go.”

“Emma, wait,” Regina called, hurrying after her. “ _Wait_.”

Emma whirled around and before she could say anything her heart tripped in a most Swan-like manner. A face stared back, a face wracked with a melting pot of emotions. The turmoil in choosing which one Regina felt most in that moment displayed in the line between her brows, the flush to her cheeks, the rapid pulse of her neck, and the tick of her temple’s nerve. There were too many signs to count or identify, so Emma just settled on the one she wanted most.

She swallowed and croaked, “Yeah?”

“How far of a drive do you have?”

“Couple of hours,” she replied with a perplexed shrug. “Why?”

“That fog will only grow worse as the night goes on. You should not risk it.” Regina turned suddenly and started for a hallway closet. Then, as if an afterthought, she threw over her shoulder, “Henry would be displeased to find you gone in the morning.”

Emma deadpanned. “He expects me to stay the night?” Try as she had, she was unable to keep the shock out of her voice.

Instead of answering, Regina reappeared with an armload of clean white linens. She handed Emma two pillows and started leading the way up the stairs.

Once Emma got over the speed at which Regina accepted her into her home, she followed after like she was walking a dream.

Even after entering the guest bedroom with all its subdued character, Emma had a hard time grasping the generosity. “Why are you doing this?”

Regina’s steady hands swept the wrinkles out of the sheet before tucking the ends under the mattress. “He shouldn’t have to wake up and find you gone. It took quite some time for him to sleep soundly and I don’t want him to have to go through that again.”

It stung, hearing of the pain she had caused him, but Emma had a feeling that’s not how Regina meant it.

“Just tonight,” maintained Emma as she pitched in to make the bed. “I don’t want to give him the wrong idea.”

Nodding once, Regina skirted a safe distance around her guest to touch up the other side of the bed. “Of course not.”

“I can do that.”

Surprised, Regina stepped aside to let Emma handle the bedspread. She should have sworn from experience that whenever Emma insisted she do something herself it was best to let her do her thing – despite how much it might irk her methods.

Regina watched Emma’s fumbling strategy in tucking the pillow under her chin to pull the pillowcase on from the other end. It shouldn’t have taken this long, but then Emma was being Emma by doing things ass backwards.

Finally, Regina stopped the fussing by closing a hand around Emma’s wrist. Emma hesitated, the tip of her tongue caught between her lips in concentration. The pillow was still clamped between chin and chest, but soon dropped forgotten to the bed.

“Am I doing it wrong?”

If Regina had not still been holding her eyes to the hand on Emma’s wrist, she would have seen the puppy dog guilt sagging Emma’s features and smiled. Instead, she felt kept by the racing pulse under her fingers. Oblivious to the eyes burning through her, Regina closed her own eyes and counted.

Emma frowned, wondering why Regina wasn’t letting go and why her head was bowed in something close to embarrassment (or fear of looking up). Finally, Regina’s eyes ascended.

Their eyes met, intense and begging for what ifs. Regina, unknowingly holding her breath, dropped her stare to Emma’s mouth. Hopelessly captivated, she dipped in, catching the gasp with her own. The pressure of her chaste kiss became defined by half-fulfilled expectations and starved of satisfaction. They were reaching for something outside their grasp, but too tentative to venture over the line.

Later, Regina would agonize over the act of kissing her. Why did she do it? It’d been four years – did Emma even feel the same way? In any case, she shouldn’t be worrying over a stupid kiss. She had more important things to think about: Henry and this latest Cosmofleet job Emma spoke of.

But right then the kiss felt practical. It certainly shut Emma up and it did feel good, like she regained something missing for an unbearable length of time.

When Regina drew back she sensed the hand on her hip. Emma gripped her like she feared the whole house would decompress and suck all the oxygen out. She held on for gravity, for a concrete certainty in her universe. Regina smiled lightly, having never taken the woman for the clinging type.

“What?” asked Emma, dipping her head.

“Nothing. It’s… I’m glad to see you back, that’s all.”

“It’s good to be back.” Emma’s hand squeezed the place on Regina’s hip before slipping away.

“Late… it’s late,” Regina fumbled, blushing frantically. She wagged her finger over her shoulder, backing away. “I should go and let you get your sleep.”

Emma bit down on a grin. “Goodnight, Regina.”

“Goodnight, Emma.”


	2. Chapter 2

The racket of cookware started Emma awake in a bed not her own. She rose halfway up, sleep mussed head turning left and right. Her fingers wove through irresistibly smooth bedding and she couldn’t help but give a sigh at the feel. The sheets were made from expensive material – the kind she could afford but not usually take an interest in. By the time she came home from a job all she required was a flat surface with some give to break her fall and keep her out for a few hours.

There was more clattering of kitchenware, thereby drawing Emma’s attention to the closed bedroom door. Suddenly, the previous night came rushing back to her. Henry… Misthaven… fighting with Regina… kissing Regina…

“Oooh, blast,” moaned Emma who subsequently fell back against the pillow and covered her face with her hands.

What a way to make up with your ex-boss, she thought to herself. Four years away and her solution was to sweep it all under the rug. This was not the way to win her way back into Henry’s life.

Never mind that it was instigated by Regina; Emma let it happen. She was a willing participant. The fact that she didn’t pay any mind to why Regina did it proved how much self-resentment she still carried with her after making those ill-timed advances on her captain once upon a time.

The thought of Regina and their kiss last night did more than frustrate her, it made her burn with desire. It wasn’t like she remained celibate all these years, but all the pleasure of those one-nighters didn’t amount to a fraction of the thrill she felt at the brink of Regina’s kiss.

Emma muffled her groan into the pillow, but it only smelled of Regina. The sheets, the blankets, every molecule in the air was Regina.

Pushing away her more banal troubles, she focused on the cordiality of where she had been placed. Regina had been kind enough to put Emma up in the room directly next to Henry’s. Though many things had been said last night in anger, most of what still lingered on their minds had not been spoken. Emma still wondered how Regina would react to her wanting to reconnect with Henry. Keeping her there for one night couldn’t mean anything, surely? There weren’t ulterior motives in quartering her next to Henry, right?

It did make Emma uneasy, how close she had slept to them. Considering how long they had been separated from each other, it lodged a peculiar thought in her head. Their proximity resembled a family – something she had given up on. And yet when posed with these accommodations, Emma’s response was to assure Regina how short-lived it would be. Emma was _not_ moving in; she would not give Henry that impression. She couldn’t break his spirit like that when he had just found her and subtly asked her to make it up to him.

As the holograms attested, this little family didn’t need her to stay. She could still have some form of contact with Henry without living with him. She couldn’t put herself in a position to harm him again. It was best to keep a distance while holding together a semblance of a relationship.

Though the light from between the window blinds showed it to be morning, Emma cowered under the sheets, tossing and turning. Constant fears of screwing up again assaulted her mind. He couldn’t want her to be like it had been before. He couldn’t still want her to fulfill a parental role after what she’d done to him, right?

Why, thought Emma, when he already had a parent? Henry had a mom that actually stayed, two feet on solid Earth and not gallivanting off on the next adventure. They had created something unique and lasting. Emma could not possibly disturb that just because she wanted a slice, too. Although she made the decision not to return as promised, she did not leave outright. She settled on Earth, alone, as punishment. Close, but not close enough to see them and not far enough to dull the searing point of the vibroknife in her heart.

Emma threw back the covers with a long, arduous sigh. She changed and slipped on her boots. Settled on the fact that she would not hurt Henry again, she tiptoed out of the bedroom and down the stairs. The smell of breakfast and strong coffee tickled her nose pleasantly. She winced as her stomach made a loud rumbling and paused to settle a hand over it until the beast was quelled. The second her foot motioned forward again there was a clearing of a throat. Emma froze mid-step.

“I’m not going to insult your intelligence by warning you how this would look to your son.” Regina’s terseness could have melted durasteel. Her eyes burned into Emma’s with equal intensity. “Your breakfast is getting cold.”

She spun on her heel and disappeared behind the swinging door.

Shoulders falling, Emma followed.

By the time she slouched into the stool next to Henry he was already half done.

“It’s ten to,” Regina reminded him with a stern look. “Clean up and get your school bag or you’ll be late for the bus. Do _not_ forget your snack this time.” To be extra certain, she plopped the apple in his outstretched hand and pretended not to see the aversion carved into his face.

Not having to be told twice, Henry washed his hands promptly and said goodbye to Emma. He gave her a smile, but didn’t approach for a hug, didn’t raise his arms up like he did at four-years-old and demanded, “Momma, up!” Emma wouldn’t allow herself to feel the sting. She told herself that as her mopey, green eyes stared after him.

When the door slammed shut, Emma thought back to the short, yet meaningful exchange between Regina and the boy. A sly grin drew across her lips. She hummed to herself.

This seemed to irk Regina. If Emma was passing judgment on how she raised Henry, the least she could do was address it out loud, to her face. “Is there something you would like to say?”

Emma’s eyes snapped up. She blushed sheepishly, waving her spoon in the air. “I just thought you would be one of those parents who drove their kids to school.”

After a good bit of unreadable staring, Regina tended to her stove. The saucepan scraped and rattled on the glowing hot coils. “Henry has proved himself responsible. He is old enough to take the bus.”

“Doesn’t mean you enjoy it,” Emma gathered by the subtle tremble of hands. “I bet the first day was pretty hard on you.”

“On both of us – Henry and I.”

The curt explanation put an end to that topic. Grimacing inwardly, Emma changed track. “So mayor, huh?” She sucked idly on the spoon before waving it around again. “Explains the nice digs.”

“Henry told you.”

“Yep.”

Frankly, she had known for a while now. That was the consequences of not letting go. She knew far too much.

Emma ducked over the bowl of steaming oatmeal placed before her. It was drizzled in honey and dotted with perfectly ripened raspberries. She grinned at the spread before carving into it with her spoon.

“I have only been in office six months,” Regina explained. She turned off the stove heat and busied herself with a rag to the counter. “Before I was elected I worked in administration in Cosmofleet.”

Emma responded with a mock gasp. “A desk job?”

Scolding her with a glare, Regina went on. “Admiral Hopper offered me a higher position, but kowtowing to office politics was not my idea of bettering myself and Henry. At least as a captain I could avoid it by several thousand lightyears.”

“So you went into local politics?”

“This is Maine, Miss Swan. Not the Presidio.”

“Ain’t that for sure,” muttered Emma.

“I do not mind policy making. It’s the squabbling that tests my patience. Honestly, the work ethic in town hall is atrocious. No one falls into line when ordered and I cannot get my clerks to fulfill a simple lunch order!” Regina forewent scrubbing to throwing the rag down. She placed her hands on her hips and scowled at nothing in particular.

“Well, those clerks didn’t join the military. They probably wouldn’t know a drill command from an intergalactic anomaly.”

“I know,” snapped Regina. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Settling her chin in her hand, Emma watched the woman stew. This new choice in career was safe territory, which seemed a bit strange for the captain who hardly played it safe in the political arena. After all, she had been suspended one time, but that hardly counted in the grand scheme of things. When Emma first learned that Regina donned a mayor title it shocked her at first. Then, once she got used to the thought of her captain ordering around a gaggle of wide-eyed clerks and department heads, it didn’t seem all that out of the ordinary. It amused her to know that Regina was a low level politician.

“You know,” Emma said, absently picking her nails, “with the High Council elections just around the corner and the grand overhaul being done on the Commonwealth, I would have thought you had your hands in every aspect. The Regina I knew four years ago would have taken a higher position, one with more prestige.”

Regina held the look almost as if to share in the sentimentality of a younger, ambitious Captain Mills. “But I’m not the Regina of four years ago, am I?”

The stare Emma was being pinned with made her uncomfortable. She fought the urge to squirm in her seat, knowing any movement would be taken as a sign of weakness.

Taking pity on the poor soul, Regina turned to the sink and washed dishes. She inhaled the sandalwood fragrance of the soap, closing her eyes, and felt her weathered heart relax.

“I could not very well care for a six-year-old child and captain a crew of four hundred.” Regina’s hands worked as she spoke. She frowned at her explanation. Or was it a defense? She couldn’t know that or whether it was for the benefit of Emma or herself. “Misthaven is an ideal place. The small town life suits Henry and I.”

“He certainly lives well. That’s what counts.”

Mouth twisting, Regina panned the extent of her kitchen. She came away from it with an expression Emma couldn’t decipher. “I grew up in this house. After retiring from the fleet Henry and I moved in. It seemed fitting that I share it with someone I care about.”

“You don’t have to validate yourself to me.”

“I’m doing no such thing.”

Emma just rolled her eyes slightly like that was exactly what Regina was doing.

Once the dishes were dried and stacked, Regina leaned back against the sink, arms crossed. Emma didn’t move from her stool, fearing she’d need a signed decree to escape from under that gaze.

“We have things to discuss.”

Emma raised a brow. That was some conversation starter. Somehow it had slipped Emma’s mind how hopeless Regina was in a social situation – at least one that didn’t involve a blaster or threats of airlock termination.

“Henry,” she approved with a nod and a tight smile, “and I’m sure you think it’s your duty to be informed of my missteps with Cosmofleet.”

“I can’t wait to hear your explanation on how you got dragged into that recon job,” Regina said, dry tone unmistakable. “Unfortunately, I must make an appearance at the town hall. There are meetings today that cannot run smoothly without the mayor.”

The lack of sarcasm in that statement just widened Emma’s smirk. “You can take the captain out of the boss, but not the bossy out of the captain.”

“I will be unavailable until three, so do not call me with pitiful excuses. My assistant only interrupts me if the transmission is from Henry,” and she added, as an afterthought, “or an emergency.” Regina opened a drawer and relinquished a datapad. She scrolled through her calendar before addressing Emma with an expectant gaze. “What time works for you? I would recommend around the lunch hour as that is the only free moment I will have this week.”

“I have to make an appointment with you? Come on, Regina. I’m not some underling you can order around.”

“Ah, yes, you’ve made _that_ quite clear in the past.”

Emma suffered a look. “You’ve known me for how long and you’re telling me I have to wait in line like everyone else? How do you think that makes me feel, Regina?”

“Will you refrain from stomping your foot like a child for one minute? Understand, Miss Swan, that I am a high-ranking civil servant with very important duties to tend to. This town does not run itself. My absence would cause chaos.”

Emma rolled her eyes. Regina hadn’t changed one bit.

“ _Most_ importantly, I have a boy whose needs require me to work a rigorous schedule, so excuse me for doing right by him.”

“You’re right. I apologize.”

“Good. I accept your apology, but do not think I will be this lenient again. I am giving you the benefit of the doubt because –“

“I’ve recklessly abandoned him?” Emma supplied sardonically. It was more so for her own punishment.

“Because you’ve been out of the loop,” Regina corrected with a softness that startled Emma. “And if you want back into Henry’s life, you will have some catching up to do.”

* * *

Later that day in her office suite, Mayor Regina Mills went about what she did best: delegate. Like any ardent civil servant, she had a commitment to supervising projects and seeing them through to completion. Although she cooperated with others (especially those that worked as dogged as she), her productivity surged in the privacy of her office. The solitude reminded Regina of her cabin on the _Storybrooke_. No one bothered her unless the ship was in mortal danger or they had a particular hankering to scrub the forward viewports – from outside the ship.

These days Regina couldn’t get far with the threats of old. She missed the days when she could point at someone – any random blonde oaf with authority issues – and dismiss them with but a look.

That kind of approach didn’t work on the citizens of Misthaven. Small town folks were close-knit. They looked out for each other and just because they unanimously voted for Regina didn’t mean they possessed an unlimited supply of tolerance. The power she was given could just as easily be taken away.

So for the first instance in her adult life, Regina treaded carefully around authority. She governed her actions, thinking a due curse instead of speaking it and donning a more conservative blazer to shield her icy demeanor. She also took people’s advice into consideration even if it made her teeth grind. In short, Regina gave her constituents her time and her good judgment and in return they afforded her a safe, welcome neighborhood through which to raise her charge.

It was a foreign concept to someone who came from the upper ranks of a military organization, but she grew into it. Though there were plenty of reasons to quit, the only worthwhile reason to stay happened to be the boy entrusted into her care, Henry, who adored Misthaven and the little life they’d made for themselves there.

In the late hours when work dwindled and the town hall emptied its tired and its hungry, Regina contemplated the whirlwind of what occurred over the course of 24 hours. It seemed to her like the world had turned upside down and she couldn’t know yet if it was for good or ill.

Regina and Henry had not always shared a special connection, but it seemed that way from the moment he smiled shyly at her from over his mother’s shoulder. Despite the gods awful time she spent apart from him after Emma’s resignation, she would have moved all the stars in the galaxy to mend the years together and strengthen her friendship with the child. Ironically, it did not take much to accomplish this feat. She just had to stick around, and with Henry’s growing adolescent antics that was only too simple.

Over the course of four years her relationship with Henry blossomed. There was always a sorrow buried in the origins of their affections, though. Love and laughter filled their home, but there hung an ever-present shadow. When two years had passed with no Emma, Henry started feeling the full brunt of his abandonment. He grew sadder as the days dragged on. School wasn’t fun anymore and the amply bestowed books and sim games no longer instilled the same thrill. Astronomy, space bandits, and the dreams of being a pilot brought him nothing but grief.

It didn’t take much to notice the only other occupant of her house moping about. Sometimes she thought she lived alone. Henry had passed into a phase of silence, only speaking when spoken too, always polite, but never expressing the true extent of his feelings. Regina witnessed this behavior, helpless to find a solution, and resented Emma Swan for making her son feel this way.

She wanted the best for Henry; she thought Emma wanted the same. If only Regina had been around children more often. If only Cora allowed her another week with the colony children, maybe then she would be equipped with the proficiency to make Henry’s dreams come true. It hurt her deeply that she wasn’t the one he wished for every night. She’d lay her ear against his door and hear the name breathed. She held back no amount of tears to the fact that she couldn’t grant his wish.

It stung that she couldn’t dig him out of this melancholy hole. Even if she had the means, it did not fall to her to save him. That right belonged to Emma, the only person in Henry’s universe who could truly make him whole again.

Despite the dreary atmosphere they were living in, Regina restrained from hunting Emma down. She respected the woman’s privacy even though it meant a loss of hope in a once imaginative young boy. In the meantime, Regina stood up for the reckless fool and swore to Henry and to herself that his mother would return.

Futile, though it turned out, Henry made a promise of his own. At ten years old and furiously precocious thanks to his guardian, he could wait no longer. After Regina’s refusals to search for Emma, he took matters into his own hands.

Henry commenced the research Regina claimed she hadn’t done and found his mother in a holonews bulletin. Emma had been seen photographed with the high profile bounty she was leading into the courtroom by the scruff of his shirt collar and the cuffs at his back. Pride swelled in Henry, making him forget four aching years of a broken oath.

Regina had been through years of back breaking, mind numbing training at Cosmofleet Academy and experienced a variety of lessons in their service, but nothing prepared Regina for the stray Henry brought home that late, foggy night. She was nothing if not shell-shocked.

Pursing her lips, Regina rose from her high back office chair and resigned herself to the sitting area. With papers perched on her lap, she angled herself on the sofa in such a way that the warmth from her fireplace cast on her chilled legs. The skirt was appropriate for her half dozen, thrilling meetings that day, but horribly unrealistic during her down time.

A sigh hissed past her red-tinted lips as she tried to get comfortable. The crackling fire had grown on her after years serving aboard a ship that couldn’t maintain the privilege. In an era of arguing officials and rebellious young boys, she relished the calming sound and warmth of a fire.

Soon the previous night sank back into mind. Regina remembered her hesitation that morning in delving too deep into the years Emma missed out on. While she inferred her helping Emma catch up, there were some doubts. Among them being Henry and her need to protect him. There was no telling how Emma would react and Henry was too caught up in his mother being back to guard against her unpredictability.

But where to start? Honestly, Henry had been a wreck in the months following Emma’s departure. Although he had been without her before, this was different. The time felt uncertain and the distance much too long. It was only reason Regina needed to give up her captaincy. There was no other means of taking care of him, easing the bad dreams away with a glass of warm milk and snuggles. But even after Regina retired from the fleet, the stability of home and routine did not make much of a difference.

There were nights Henry came to her bedroom on the verge of crying. Heart breaking, Regina would call him into her bed and cuddle together under the covers. Henry had never cried to anyone but Emma. He couldn’t with August because he was a guy and would have taught him codes like “boys don’t cry” and “chicks don’t dig the sap.” And when Mulan had been his babysitter his life was so worry free that there was no reason to cry.

When he cried now he went running to Regina. She would hold him as he sobbed into her chest. “I miss Momma,” he would say. “When is she coming back?” Regina couldn’t bear to disappoint him, but all she could manage was “It’s okay” and “It will be alright.” Reason wouldn’t snap him out of it. He couldn’t accept false hope through stinging eyes. His mother had hurt him too deep for him to trust that she’d be back in a reasonable amount of time.

When he cried himself to sleep, that’s when the tears in Regina’s eyes began to fall. She allowed herself the mess she had become because it was all she knew. She cried not only for Emma and for poor Henry, but for the mother that she was forced to become. She cried because she had no blasted idea what she was doing. She didn’t have children of her own. She had no idea how to raise one.

But then she sobered up and scolded herself for the meltdown. She may not have been a mother before but she was one now. Of course she had a child. He was there, in her arms, hugging her for dear life and love. She owed it to Henry to be strong for the both of them.

Those nights of crying and cuddling went on longer than either could count. Then it stopped. Concerned at the time, Regina had peeked into his bedroom, decorated in soft blues and replete with long treasured stuffed animals, and found him fast asleep. From this she concluded two things: that his developing masculinity prevented him from seeking comfort from her or that he was forgetting.

Regina didn’t know which was worse. For one, she wanted to be able to be that place he came to when he hurt. In the early days, when she used to drop him off at school she would hug and kiss him till his face went fire engine red. Embarrassed or not, Henry allowed it out of courtesy to the woman who _needed_ to do those things. For some reason unbeknownst to him, Regina needed to prove her love to him every day. Emma had given her these years with Henry and Regina would be damned to the wasteland of Tume before she lived them in vain.

It became imperative to prove to him her priorities. She would always be there whether he was six-years-old or 35. But she also dreaded a growing inability to show emotion. As much as she hated Emma for leaving him, Henry had to keep hope alive. He couldn’t carry the same anger Regina carried with her daily. He could not forget Emma. Regina would do everything in her power to keep her memory alive. For Henry.

It wasn’t until last night that Regina realized just how much she had deluded herself. Hope had not outlasted just for Henry’s sake. As Emma was dragging her feet out of the study, not the least bit confident, Regina’s heart seized. She didn’t want to see Emma walk out again, not just for Henry’s benefit but for her own as well. It was why out of all the guest bedrooms in her house, she offered the one closest to Henry’s and consequently to her own.

Many sleepless hours and a workday later, Regina was rationalizing the seven hells out of her decision. If she were Emma and hadn’t seen her son in years, she would want to be as close to him as possible. It wasn’t selfish, Regina told herself. It had nothing to do with her own longings. It was a courtesy… like that kiss goodnight.

Groaning, Regina held her face in her hand. Why had she done that? Complicating matters between her and Emma did Henry no good. Why couldn’t she get Miss Swan out of her head?

Receding from lusty, delirious thoughts, Regina noted the time and remembered her meeting with Emma. If she arrived late there would be a lopsided smile and snark galore waiting for her.

Rising from the sofa, Regina swiped down her skirt and put away the day’s paperwork. She set her mind on the business ahead and toughened herself with a thick durasteel façade as if to prepare for war.

* * *

Misthaven Galleria was quite enormous for a small town, but considering it held the only commercial establishments within thirty square miles it wasn’t surprising. The enclosed center provided shopping opportunities and a wide selection of eateries to the public. Its transparent walls served as windows to the charming seascape. Harbor boats could be seen dotted along the horizon. A large platform was suspended above the water and served as an outdoor patio to eat and mingle.

As arranged, Regina met Emma at one of the patio’s cushioned benches.

Slowing to a stand still, she watched wisps of blonde hair gliding on the breeze. If anyone accused her of doing so with rapt captivation and not a single care for the annoying cacophony of gulls, she would lie. But that did not dismiss the fact that she gave the _impression_. Everything served as background noise to the seated woman looking out to sea.

Regina curled the fingers of her right hand, which she kept pinned to her side. She dipped her head and greeted a soft, “Hello.”

Though she barely heard her own voice over the wind and tide, Emma turned. “Hey, for once I’m not the tardy one.” She smirked, as predicted, and made room on the bench. “Got held up at work?”

Among other things, she mused. Regina swallowed thickly at her more fervent turn of thoughts. She really had to stop daydreaming.

Before she could supply an appropriate excuse, her hand was filled with a paper cup. Coffee, she confirmed from a whiff of its steam. “Oh, thank you.” She didn’t have the heart to assert that this was business, not a social call.

Its contents were warm and spread its lazy temperature through her ice-cold hands. Though she was familiar with Misthaven’s coastal swells, she hadn’t thought to bring a warmer jacket.

With an arm settled on the bench’s back, Emma leaned back with her own coffee. She sipped between vigilant glances. “You seem pensive today.”

“Pensive?” Regina nearly sputtered on the superbly crafted beverage. “I’m markedly impressed that you know the word exists.”

Emma nodded, nonchalantly. “My vocabulary has grown.”

“The same cannot be said of your common sense. I shudder to think why you allowed yourself to assist the fleet with something as trivial as reconnaissance.”

“Wow, okay. Skipping the pleasantries. Give me a minute to adjust.”

“What happened to your highly adaptable skills?” Regina grinned from behind the mouth opening of her coffee lid. She tipped it back for a long nip. “I don’t think I’ve met anyone who carried on so much about their proficiencies.”

“Pot, meet kettle.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s an Old World expression,” Emma dismissed with a blush. “Forget it.”

Regina beheld the ruffled woman a moment longer before turning her gaze out to the lapping water. “You don’t have to share. I understand you are bound by confidentiality.”

“Come on, Regina,” Emma snorted derisively, “when have you known me to uphold rules as insignificant as security clearances?”

Eyes holding the setting sun, Regina tipped her head in consideration. “Indeed.”

“You’re really liking that coffee, aren’t ya?”

Jolted by the intrusion, Regina pulled the cup down and scolding Emma with her durasteel dagger eyes. “I already expressed my appreciation.”

“Just wanted to know what you thought.”

“It is satisfactory, yes.”

“Good.”

Regina looked away. She could feel the smile at her back. It was a smile of yesterday, so very very long ago but timeless to her dreams.

With a sigh, Emma hunched forward to prop her elbows on her knees. She scrubbed her hands together as if to keep warm. “Cosmofleet has been investigating a threat to Earth and possibly to all sentient life.”

“If this is your idea of poking fun at a retired captain –“

“It’s not. I know how much you miss it, despite you not saying so, but I wouldn’t joke about this.”

“No offense, dear, but why would they bring you in on something so delicate? You do not have the lightest of footsteps in any circumstance,” Regina pointed out to the heavy soles of leather boots.

“I asked myself that same question.” Emma shrugged, perplexed features sagging. “Still do. I asked my recruitment officer but he was tight-lipped about who recommended me. It must have been Anderson – he has a few contacts in the ranks.”

Regina nodded. “I heard something of that when I was still working on Presidio grounds. Raider factions disbanded after the peace treaty. Some returned to their families in the Outer Reach, others to their home planets. A few were allowed back into Cosmofleet in lending a hand to its reformation.”

“Yeah, it’s odd how accommodating the fleet’s been. Personally, I didn’t care to get sucked back into official service. Once I got a taste of freelance there’s no going back.”

“Killian Jones’ words?”

“My words,” Emma sustained, recalling irritably how Regina and the pirate grated on each other’s nerves. “Inspired by Killian.”

Regina rolled her eyes. “Elaborate on this threat, if you would.”

“Threat, yeah.” Emma combed through her windswept hair and winced amid the snarls. “Well, since relations between Raiders and the Commonwealth have improved, there’s been more traffic in the Outer Reaches. Ships have been picking up some weird activity in the area. Our communications – I mean, the fleet’s communications experts are stumped by the data.”

“By weird you mean…?”

Emma shook her head at herself. She should know how anal Regina was with mission particulars. “Scientifically abnormal,” she corrected. “The closest scientists have come to an answer doesn’t help.”

“Why not? Surely they must lend some theories.”

“They think it’s an energy vortex.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” grunted Emma.

Energy vortexes were the galaxy’s big mystery. No one with a science degree could break down its complexities. Philosophy experts dreaded that its swirling atoms were a gateway to an alternate dimension – that or none of it mattered because we don’t exist. Only religious zealots seemed to have the answers and neither Emma nor Regina were keen on blind faith. They relied on facts and figures, data, and cold hard certainty.

Of course it helped the scientific community even less due to their presentation. There have been so few sightings of energy vortexes that they have passed into myth. Anyone claiming they saw one out their viewport would either be called out as a vapor junky (too high on fumes to see straight) or a religious nut hailing Judgment Day.

Emma went on. “The High Council – geniuses that they are – are siding with the philosophers on this one.”

If circumstances were not as ominous, Regina would have been amused. This really did sound an awful lot like the High Council. Not much had changed after all. “They believe the anomaly to be a gateway to an alternate dimension?”

“More like a door through which an enemy can pass through and wreak lightyears of destruction to unseat the asses of admirals.”

Normally, Regina would scold her subordinate's crass mouth, but in this instance Emma had hit the nail on the head. “What on Earth would an alien invasion want with mediocre power?”

“My thoughts exactly. Gods, could their egos get any bigger? Anyway, the whole fleet is keeping mum. Although they don’t so much as whisper the word ‘aliens,’ that’s exactly what they’re thinking. And when the Council has a thought in their head…”

“They send the fleet to do their dirty work,” finished Regina with the faintest smile.

Despite the hell she and her crew had been through at the hands of Admiral George’s fleet, there was something pleasantly sentimental about finishing each other’s dreaded sentences. Regina’s heart began to race at the thrill of times past. Though they had butted heads in the line of duty more often than not, there were times their minds clicked on similar levels. Whenever they fell in sync like this, it was like finding a rare diamond in the dune seas on Tume.

“The operation is under wraps, of course.” Emma settled back into the bench and took a pull from her coffee. 

“Operation… do you mean to say that the fleet is mounting a defense?”

Emma shook her head. “Not this early. They don’t want to draw attention to something they can’t explain to the public. If the HoloNews gets the slightest whiff of a conspiracy,” Emma cast her hand into the air, “there goes secrecy.”

“Cosmofleet does not like to be embarrassed. Falling short of answers will render them irrelevant.”

“And they don’t want to be upstaged by private organizations itching to make scientific history.”

“So tell me,” Regina said, tucking her warm coffee into her chest and leaning subtly toward Emma, “what did it look like?”

Emma raised a curious brow. “I didn’t say anything about seeing the vortex.”

“You don’t have to. That thing your mouth does gave you away.”

Tilting her head, Emma gave her a questioning look, albeit amused. Regina realized in horror that her eyes were staring. She needed to stop daydreaming _and_ fixating on Emma’s mouth.

“I traveled in a light freighter so I couldn’t get that close,” recalled Emma. “What I could see were spirals of blue, or was it green? I couldn’t tell. It had the likeness of a pinwheel’s axle, a great intergalactic pinwheel – dangerous, of course, but spectacular.” Her voice dragged off into the wind. Having gone numb to the shiver that Misthaven’s fog instilled last night, she bore her gaze into Regina’s exposed brown eyes. “It was beautiful, actually.”

Regina shrunk in the pathetic shell of her jacket and vaguely wondered if Emma could detect her tremble. There was a time when she had called her out on it, citing tremble and cowardice in tandem. And although Regina had sworn up and down that she responded in no such way, her body acted like a traitorous romantic.

“I want to get back together.”

Regina blinked out of reverie. “What?”

“I-I think we should bring the gang back together. To recon this thing.” Emma smiled timidly. “Like the old days.”

Narrowing her eyes and thrusting her head forward, Regina hissed, “You must be spaced out!”

“Not… lately.”

“Need I remind you, the _Storybrooke_ was decommissioned, the crew has disbanded, and I am retired!” cried Regina, proving that Emma wasn’t the only focus of her anger. After all, it hadn’t been Emma’s fault entirely. Cosmofleet didn’t try all that hard to retain her. That stung Regina more than she would admit. “Some of our crew are no longer in service to the fleet. Do you know how difficult it would be to track them down?”

“I’m just talking about the inner circle, our senior officers. I can go through the channels, Regina. I may be incommunicado most of the time, but I know how to find people. It’s –“

“It’s what you do. Yes, dear, I’m aware.” Regina’s expression suddenly turned dark. “But you have a way of finding people on your own terms, namely after they bump into you.”

“Seriously? Henry doesn’t count. I knew where he was before he even showed up last n –“ Emma’s last word froze in her throat. Her eyes went as wide as Regina’s, maybe not as intense, but definitely as shocked.

“You must think me a fool.”

The broken tone pierced sharply into Emma. It felt a lot like guilt. She had betrayed Regina again. She had worn down her trust to the point where there were no more second chances.

Emma was already shaking her head. She colored an embarrassing red as Regina stood from the bench. This wasn’t like her to run from a fight. Perhaps Emma had worn so much of the captain’s wall that she had hit something vulnerable. Maybe Emma’s good intentions (ill timed as they were) had rubbed so abrasively that Regina didn’t have the heart anymore.

“Regina, stop! I didn’t mean to mislead you or Henry. I just couldn’t let him find out. If he knew I had the means to come back to him, he would hate me.”

Regina whirled around. “What makes you think he doesn’t already? Honestly, what did you think would happen? You’ve been gone for four years, Emma. When would it have been a good time, hm? How many more years are acceptable to you?”

“I wanted to be with him.” Emma laid her hands out, palms up to display the weight of her pleading. “Believe me, I wanted to be there for him, but what would you have done if you saw your son living happily ever after with a family of his own? I couldn’t do it – the perfect house, the perfect brick walkway, the school, the nice clothes… He has the perfect mother, Regina. You are what he needed. He still needs you.” Emma wet her bottom lip and bit into it, stifling a sob. She felt her face stiffen back the inevitable tears. “I don’t know what he needs from me. I don’t think I ever did. That’s why I always went back to the _Storybrooke_. Because at least my duties were outlined in a gods damned manual!”

Regina felt her head sagging from the weight of tears. A drop collected at the corner of her eye and slipped down her cheek. Her jaw clenched over the tremble. She shook her head. “You never read the manual, Miss Swan.”

Emma closed her eyes and let out something between a chuckle and a sob. “How did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Give him so much and still be standing. You give him so much love.”

“Emma, dear, I’m still doing it. The job never stops, especially when the distance is impossibly wide.”

Terror stricken and hopeful at the same time, Emma couldn’t bear to look Regina in the eye when she asked. “It’s not too late, is it?”

Regina had an overwhelming urge to hold Emma. Every molecule in her body screamed to reach out, wipe away the tears, and _hold_ _her_. She needed to like she needed air. Because if she didn’t, she would always live in the vacuum she made for herself, floating aimlessly without the heat and passion of Emma’s love.

Emma had made a horrible mistake but she was only sentient and at least she had the courage to own up to her inadequacies as a mother. If Emma agonized her heart out long enough, Regina might have it in her to forgive this idiot.

A trill interrupted the moment. As Emma turned away to swallow down her grief, Regina checked her comlink. She cleared her throat before answering.

Emma forced her blurry vision to the oranges and reds melting into the horizon. She heard Regina’s voice turn tender. It was a tone she only ever heard around one person.

“Yes, sweetheart, I remember. No, you may not. I will be there to pick you up after you finish. Tell Mrs. Heathrow I said it’s alright. Mm-hm. Mm-hm.” Regina nodded, the tip of her tongue flicking out to catch her lip. She caught Emma’s eye before looking away as if burned. “Is who with me? Your mother?” Regina’s head rose. “I’m afraid not, dear.”

Emma turned away just in time. She didn’t tune in to the rest of the conversation. She was too afraid by what she might hear.

When the comlink finally clicked off, Emma breathed easier. “Another willful minion protesting the work hours?”

“Minion, no. Willful, yes.” Regina inclined her head severely, although it came across more as amusing. “Thank you for that.”

Emma flashed a shameless grin. “Your welcome.”

“I have to go. Henry will be expecting a full course dinner tonight after finishing his science project.”

“He’s got the Swan genes, all right.” When Regina didn’t make to leave, Emma threw caution to the wind. “Can you please consider what I’ve said?” She kicked lightly at the balcony post. “All of it?”

If Regina couldn’t comfort Emma, the least she could do was consider the request. It didn’t take long. “Do you have proof of this energy vortex you were sent to find?”

Emma nodded.

“I would like to see this evidence before making any hasty decisions. I need a better reason than a bluish-green anomaly to resign my position as mayor and return to the fleet. Understood?”

Swallowing, Emma nodded again.

“As far as Henry… you may pick him up from school tomorrow. I’m sure you’ve already researched the location. Bring him home and maybe I’ll be in a good enough mood to let you stay for dinner.”


	3. Chapter 3

“The forest. Really? You couldn’t have chosen a more damp, muddy place to meet?”

“Hey, it’s the last place in town you’d think to bump into the mayor.”

“I guess.” Emma sighed, hands on her hips, and kicked at the ground. “I still don’t see what’s wrong with our usual rendezvous location.”

“Get over it, Savior,” sniped Ren who plopped herself down on a large boulder. “Did she suspect anything?”

“Course not. I’m very well versed in covert tactics, you know.”

“Only because I taught you.”

“Whatever. What do you have for me?”

“The usual, plus a little extra seeing as I go above and beyond.” Shrugging, Ren inspected her nails. “It’ll cost you.”

“Cost me?” Emma gaped comically. “Seriously, I thought we were past all that. We’re friends, Ren. Buddies. Don’t bring credits into this.”

“Don’t bring that puppy face into it. We both know the only person it works on is –“

“So what is this data disk you have for me?”

Ren paused, allowing the embarrassment to sink into the poor fool before getting to business. From her breast pocket she pulled out a stick the size of her index finger and tossed it over. “A comprehensive data set from the first sighting. That’s everything Anderson’s guys have.”

“Compressed and tabbed?”

Ren nodded to their routine. “A seven-year-old could read it.”

“I don’t appreciate the sarcasm, but thanks.”

Ren just snickered. Four years ago she would have probably pulled her blaster on the woman and shot the stupid out of her. Actually, she had – one stun to Emma’s big toe and she shut up for a whole two minutes, hopping around on one foot like a jackrabbit.

Shaking her head, Ren thought about all the rendezvous over the years, working with Emma, snapping at her, and befriending her. Sometimes, on the rare occasion, she would see a bit of Mulan in her. The first time it pained Ren; Emma had lugged a carton of ice cream to one of their meetings and made a roundabout comment about how skimming the sides helped melt it faster. “It makes a runny moat around the island of still frozen ice cream,” she had strategized (mouth full, of course).

After Ren had gotten to know Emma through her sweet tooth and obsession with hovercars, it didn’t hurt anymore. Emma had become a good friend – her only friend. Sometimes, dare she say, a sister. Ren didn’t get a lot of time to socialize. Even after retiring from freedom fighting, she didn’t know what to do with herself, so she sank back into routine. She begged Anderson to keep her on as a sort of spy consultant. She was good with data, so whatever his people couldn’t deconstruct they’d send to her.

Emma just happened to be a second boss – a laid back, ice cream eating boss at that. Ren happened to have great patience – _stellar_ patience. It’s why this relationship worked. Ice cream for information as Emma called it.

After slipping the disk into the back pocket of her jeans, Emma commenced a casual study of the ground. She pushed over a brittle maple leaf with the toe of her boot and pressed it into the floor. The dirt, made damp by Misthaven’s odd yet perpetual fog, allowed the pressure from Emma’s boot to make a perfect print of the leaf.

“So what’s life inside Mills Manor like?”

Emma’s head snapped up so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. Her cheeks went red, unsure whether to be angry or embarrassed.

“Why the shock?” Ren chuckled. “You think I’d take my eyes off them just because some doe-eyed blonde looked longingly up at the mayor’s bedroom window that one time? You paid me handsomely to surveillance them.”

“Hey, you stopped asking for credits a long time ago. Don’t make it seem like you were fulfilling some job.”

“You’re right. Watching over the Mills’ isn’t a job, it’s a privilege.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Here we go.”

“You should know more than anyone what it’s like to grow up without a proper guardian. It makes people like us put such stock in revering a figure of great importance. You have your idol. I have mine and it is an honor to serve a hero …”

And on and on she went. It became clear some time ago how after all those years of resenting Emma for her hand in Mulan’s death that these two women had put the past behind them. If they hadn’t developed this uncommon friendship, Ren wouldn’t have done Emma this enormous favor.

The favor, as it turned out, was a long-term engagement that required Ren to live in small town Misthaven. Emma outlined the simple task by asking Ren to keep an eye on her son and Regina while she was away. As far as she was concerned, no place in the galaxy was safe even after a peace had been settled between two widely resentful enemies. She had made this request just a few days after hearing Regina retired from the fleet and moved north to a sleepy little harbor town. Ren, surprisingly enough, was so bored she agreed to the job. Occasionally, Ren did some digging for Emma and Killian when they were stuck on a contract. She was the first person Emma consulted when Cosmofleet hailed her for a recon job. Besides her loyal _Storybrooke_ crew, who were moving on with their own lives, Ren was the only person Emma trusted. Since her investigation of the energy vortex, they had been passing intel back and forth, compiling the evidence for this penultimate day.

Ren crossed her legs as she sat on the boulder and tipped her head innocently. “So what’s it like being back? Must be surreal to see Henry all grown up.”

Wincing, Emma knew Ren didn’t mean anything by it. “I wouldn’t know. The last I saw of him was the morning after he showed up.”

“Huh, that’s interesting.”

“You thought that because Henry tracked me down I’d be welcomed with open arms?”

Ren looked up, brow raised. “Haven’t you?”

Unable to scrounge up a better devised answer, Emma replied with a flustered, “No.” She scuffed her boot into the ground, kicking up dirt in the process. “It sucked before living so far from him, but now it’s worse. From Boston to Misthaven I’m definitely getting the miles.” Then she pressed a fist to her sternum and exhaled with a wince. “And the heartburn from those Slim Jims.”

“Why don’t you just stay in town for a few days? There’s a bed and breakfast not far.”

“That’s overstepping, don’t you think?”

Ren deadpanned. “You’re sleeping at a hotel, not moving in with the family. I think they’ll understand when they hear about the heartburn.”

Emma shook a fist at her before grimacing again. “Hey, no joke. Acid reflux is a serious condition.”

“Cry me a river. Take an antacid and buy some wine.”

“Wine? Why?”

“You can’t go over to the mayor’s for dinner and not bring something. Manners, Emma.”

“What gives you the impression that I’m invited to dinner?” She blinked furiously, shaking her head to add, “Or seeing her for that matter.” Ren really needed to stop with the spy tactics. She was too perceptive for her own good.

“Well,” drawled Ren, propping her chin up with a single finger and looking Emma up and down, “that outfit certainly gives me the impression.”

Suddenly, Emma felt very self-conscious. “Vaporize me. Do I look that bad?”

“You’re wearing black leggings and an oatmeal sweater. Didn’t think you knew sweaters existed. And my, my, my, is that a starched shirt under there? And you’re boots… they could reflect the sun from two systems over.”

Sulking, Emma hung her shaking head. “Too much. I knew it.”

“The leggings help. Just enough to attract a lingering eye,” Ren assured, winking.

“Don’t get any ideas.”

“Psh, with you? That would be fraternizing beneath…” At Emma’s narrowed eyes, she recovered, “But, anyway, you’re, like, my best friend. Platonic as two similarly charged electrons. You’re like the antimatter to my matter.”

“Okay, so that means I’m…” Emma’s face crunched. “… Anti-Ren?”

Ren wasn’t as trigger-happy as usual, but she happened to be in good enough humor to waggle her blaster before panic-stricken eyes.

* * *

Henry slung his backpack further on his shoulder as he squinted through the sunlight. The passage of school buses and mini vans had long dwindled since the final toll of the bell. After school activities had finished and teachers were walking to their hoverers, Henry, the last student to leave, rose on his tiptoes and bent right and left to search the parking lot for a recognizable BenzHover.

When he saw a silhouette of a waving figure he started walking. Venturing closer, he spotted the long locks of hair and broke into a smile. “Mom!”

Emma smiled back. “Hey, kid, how was school?”

“It’s over.”

“Powerful words there. Anything else you’d like to add?”

Henry’s cheeks ached, but he persisted. He shook his head. “Not really.”

“Okay.” Emma took pains to keep her hands from fidgeting. She forgot every 30 seconds that her leggings didn’t have pockets, so it looked like she was repeatedly wiping the perspiration from her palms. It wasn’t a farfetched observation. “So you don’t mind staying after class? You know that makes you a nerd, right?” She chuckled at the truth of that statement.

Shrugging casually, Henry explained, “I get a lot of homework done, and my school’s library has a ton of books, so I kill time before Regina picks me up.” His head tilted as he squinted up at her. “Hey, does she know you’re here?”

Emma didn’t need permission, and something about the way he asked didn’t sit comfortably with her. “Um, yeah. She’s actually the one who asked me to take you home. She got tied up at work and thought it would be a good opportunity for us to spend some quality one-on-one time.”

Henry rolled his eyes. She was laying it on a bit thicker than he would have expected. “Is that what she said,” he droned idly.

“Yeah, why? You think she was lying?”

“Regina never schedules appointments after three.” He fluttered his lashes matter-of-factly like he had more years on Emma. And who was he kidding? In some ways he kind of did. Regina would surely side with him on that.

“What does that mean?”

“It’s not rocket science, Mom. She’s already home. She’s just making sure dinner is perfect. If she told you, then that would take away from the mystery.”

“The mystery.” Emma frowned.

“Why she’s so awesome.”

Emma snorted, eyes soaring up and over. She curled an arm around Henry’s shoulder and steered him along the sidewalk. “Wow, kid. You are so whipped. You do not realize.” A thought occurred to her, prompting her to add, “The parent/child version, that is.”

“So she was okay with this?” asked Henry. “You picking me up from school?”

“Of course.”

Emma’s hand flexed over the boy’s shoulder strap as they walked. It flexed and then slackened, finger by finger as she remembered the conversation. Frankly, it didn’t take much coaxing. Emma was suspicious at first when Regina allowed her the privilege of walking Henry home. Now it made sense. If Henry was as clever as he looked, Regina indeed wanted the time to fix a ‘perfect’ dinner.

If she wanted Emma out of her hair, this was as good a compromise as any. Any time Emma spent with her son was a golden opportunity and that much closer to forgiveness. She couldn’t complain over Regina’s meddling – this time.

Still, suspicion of Regina’s motives lingered. Emma turned over the conundrum in her mind, the kindness that was being presented to her, and the expressions that had slipped past a well-built pretense. She had seen it a few times since returning to Misthaven, once when Emma showed up with a mumbled salutation and again when she described the allure of an “energy vortex.” Regina looked like she had seen a ghost. Problem was, ghosts don’t have racing pulses.

Or protesting appetites. Speaking of…

“Hey, Henry,” she threw out casually, scratching the side of her neck, “you think Regina will… you know, offer me a place at her table?” Emma’s speech dragged off slowly as she came to her senses. She squinted at her formal choice of words and shook her head. “Just for a quick bite before I leave. I have a long ride back to Boston and all…”

“’Course! There’s always plenty of food. Regina thinks I’m too skinny.”

Emma nudged his bony shoulder. “She’s got a point there.”

“Don’t worry about asking. You’re already invited.”

“What makes you so confident?” Not sure whether she wanted to know the answer, Emma raised a brow.

“Because you’re not some stranger to us. You and Regina go way back, remember?”

A pang of remorse set in as Emma focused down the sidewalk. “I remember.”

“So stop worrying.” Henry smiled easily. “It’s not like the food’s poisoned or anything.”

Emma’s brows went up at that. Her subsequent thoughts screamed _It’s not like it’s been that long... It’s not like this is a test… It’s not like that kiss meant anything…_

“What’s for dinner, you think?” Emma choked out before her brain could combust.

Henry kicked a stone off their path and it went tumbling into the lawn. “Couscous.”

“Couscous?” A sour taste invaded Emma’s mouth as she over exaggerated a yacking sound. “Have I been gone that long?”

“Ma, I can hear you’re stomach growling from here. You’ll eat anything right now. You’re not kidding anyone.”

“Smart alek.” Grinning, Emma ruffled his hair.

Though Henry filed noogies and hugs in public as off limits and so beneath his maturity, he didn’t evade his mother’s affections for long. His body swerved naturally back in line, so they were walking at the same pace – left foot, right foot, left, right, and so on.

Henry became overwhelmed with sadness that he hadn’t believed in Emma all this time. There were good days, of course, where he’d remember her courage and her bravado and beam with delight that those genes made up half his potential. But Henry had not always retained this faith.

All that sadness dissipated as he lent into Emma’s side. His head reached above her hipbone, a significant bit higher than last he saw her. Swallowing over the lump in his throat, he clutched her around her waist and just kept walking.

If Henry thought the gesture wouldn’t be noted with the same amount of feeling, he was dead wrong. Emma’s breath hitched at the pressure in her side. Her mouth turned up as she cradled him to her. A fondness seemed to fill up all the holes in her heart. The things this kid did to her… When he accepted her like this it felt like all the time and space Emma squandered away from him was returned in this one gesture. Right then in that moment she wanted for nothing and feared so little about the future.

When they arrived, Henry searched his pockets for his house key. Emma, deliberately neglecting to check her chrono, tried to look at the brass plated ‘108’ as blandly as possible. Based on the twitchy half grin and tapping hands, she could have passed for hysterical. Henry’s quizzical stare was interrupted by the click of a lock.

When Regina opened the door the first thing out of her mouth was, “You’re late.”

“But fashionably, right?” Emma had to suppress the urge to waggle her eyebrows. She gave a toothy grin instead.

Before leading Henry in, Regina twisted her mouth sardonically and threw Emma a look that screamed insufferable.

When dinner arrived it came in the form of tiny edible pearls interspersed among cranberries, herbs, and chunks of apples. A clang sounded as the bowl met the center of the table and the inevitable question fell dormant on Emma’s tongue. She looked across the table to Henry with half a thought to ask if he actually ingested this stuff on a normal basis, but the question got lodged in her throat. Henry was gobbling couscous down with as much table manners as instilled in him by Regina. It left Emma with no other resort but to dig in and think how much had changed since the days of pancakes and cheeseburgers.

Emma’s anxiety wore off some, leaving her only mildly on edge. Regina didn’t seem to notice; she focused most of her attentions on Henry. There was one moment, though, when her curiosity wandered. While listening to a monologue on the library book club, Regina’s head turned where it nestled in the palm of her hand to spot Emma guzzling her glass of expensive white wine.

Anyone who didn’t know Regina as well as Emma did would have thought they got off easy, but Emma knew the subtleties of those brown eyes. A slight constriction was enough to wean her lips off the wine glass and on to water the rest of the night.

Emma tamped down on the urge to sulk. She wasn’t used to this kind of atmosphere. It’s like the sentimentality had been going on long before she ever got there. She should be grateful she was even let through the front door. The least Emma could do was behave and act like she’d done this before. It didn’t help that a cover story and the occasional right hook accompanied all her dinner dates since.

Sighing, Emma propped her head on her hand and stared into her couscous. Her appetite had disappeared a while ago. She’d glance over at Henry occasionally and be relieved at the sight of his second helping. No poison indeed. Regina would never risk Henry’s well being just to put Emma out of commission. Emma breathed a little easier at that. Soon small traces of courage came back to her as she thought this wasn’t so bad. She could eat and converse like an adult. She could dine with the best of them… as long as Regina didn’t know about the napkin being ripped to shreds under the table.

“Have you spoken to August lately?”

Stirred from reverie, Emma took Regina’s question with a frown. “Not lately, no. I’ve been meaning to catch up with him.”

Regina patted her napkin to her lips before pursing them. “He passes through here quite often. Isn’t that right, Henry?” She threw her head back and flicked her hair with as much blasé as she did raise her wine glass for a sip.

Emma gnawed the inside of her cheek, wondering where this was going. “Oh, yeah?” Her eyes flicked to Henry.

“Uncle August comes to visit,” Henry affirmed with cheer. He twirled his fork and continued to chew as he spoke. “We play video games and watch holos and –“

“Don’t speak when you’re mouth is full, dear.”

“Sorry. And he gave me one of those build-a-hoverbikes! He helped me set it up in the garage and let me borrow his tools and everything!”

Regina pressed her fingers to her temple, eyes closed and sighing, “I’m starting to forget why I permitted that scruffy excuse for a role model to give you that death trap.”

“I only skinned my knee!” he asserted quickly, giving Emma the impression that this wasn’t their first argument over the bike. “Just once and then I eased off the repulsor.”

“That was a sidewalk, Henry. Imagine what could have happened with skylane traffic. You may have only skinned a knee, but a lot can happen between now and you’re thirtieth birthday.”

“Who said I’m driving that hoverbike for the rest of my life?” Henry whined, fully accepting that thirty meant ancient in his vocabulary.

“I did,” Regina settled in no uncertain terms. “And if you continue disobeying house rules you’ll by my passenger in the afterlife.”

“Morbid much?”

Emma’s astonishment escalated as she panned from Henry to Regina. “Hold up,” she waved a hand between them. “How often does August stop by?”

“At least once a week,” Henry replied.

“More than enough time catch up,” Regina pitched to Emma. From the corner of her eye she could detect Emma’s annoyed face scrunch at being bossed around. She grinned, triumphant. “If you two haven’t spoken, it is a simple thing to rectify now that August lives in Misthaven.”

“He _lives_ here?” gaped Emma. Honestly, she was more shocked that August settled in the suburbs than the fact that he didn’t transmit to her in the past four years.

“In a cabin near the outskirts of town. He works as a part-time carpenter to support his… phase.” Regina tsked with obvious disapproval.

“The seclusion helps him write,” Henry added. He frowned as a thought struck him. “He’s still working on his first book. I’ll bet he’s just waiting for the right inspiration.”

Regina rolled her eyes with a hint of sarcasm. “I’m sure that’s what all writers tell their readers.”

“His girlfriend is nice,” he supported to Emma with the tiniest smile.

Emma’s glass paused just before her lips. “August has a girlfriend?”

“Yes,” Regina said, “her name is Ren.”

A watery strangling sound erupted as Emma sputtered into her glass. Coughing and blinking back teary eyes, she forced a smile and mumbled. “Wow, small galaxy.”

Regina held the stare a moment longer before challenging, “Isn’t it?”

Emma’s mouth battled between a cringe and a smile. There was no way Regina could know. She was retired for gods’ sakes! Who would suspect a mole in quaint Misthaven?

Blast, Emma thought to herself as she answered her own question. Damn Ren. This was why you keep paying your spies. Emma assumed with their steady friendship, Ren had been candid in her reports. So much for doing a favor out of her own good heart.

Anxious, Henry squirmed in his seat. When he felt Regina’s stern eyes on him he straightened and asked, “Can I go up to my room and play hologames now? I’m all finished.”

Regina nodded.

He looked to Emma expectantly. “Want to play, Mom? I’ve got all these games to show you.”

“In a little while.” Emma stood to help Regina clear the table of dishes. “I need to talk to Regina and then I’ll be right up.”

When Henry retreated to his room and the dishwasher was humming, Regina tilted an ear to make sure the hologames were at an enthralling volume before leading Emma to the study. She left the door open a crack (a habit she acquired since living with a child) and took the seat across from Emma.

“You don’t play with him?”

At first, Regina’s brows crinkled but then she understood with a rising head. “Hologames are something I reserve for him and August. They enjoy the boys’ time.” Her eyes dropped to examine her nails. “I used to play with Henry.”

The corner of Emma’s mouth twitched. She narrowed her eyes. “Is that resentment I hear?”

“On the contrary, it is just the opposite,” Regina maintained stiffly. “Routine made Henry most comfortable, so after we moved to Misthaven I encouraged August to visit. He eventually took up carpentry as a healthier source of income. His presence has proven helpful when I am tied up with mayoral duties.”

“So you don’t have Henry all to yourself now,” Emma gathered. She tilted her head sympathetically. “It must be hard at times, being in this house alone without the noise of scrambling feet.”

“Which reminds me to cherish every sound – maddening or not. But as far as having him, he has never been mine, at least not in the long-term. He is too special; I could not lay claim to something I hadn’t a hand in making.”

Emma’s rubbing hands stopped. The compliment was unmistakable. She tried to express gratitude but nothing came. Her mouth worked, her eyes meeting the painfully tender ones staring back. In the four years she’d been away, Emma always thought that she’d owe Regina. Raising her son was more than a favor and beyond a courtesy to a friend. But feeling the solar waves of affection coming off of Regina every time she spoke of Henry or any moment he was in the same room with her, Emma knew she had already paid her debt.

“Well, Henry has always loved his Uncle August,” Emma said, voice thick with emotion. “Two peas in a pod, them. It was bound to happen.” She gave a sad smile. “We spend every ounce of energy making a home for our kids and never expect them to leave it.”

Regina’s sudden movement could have passed for a gasp. Emma couldn’t know for sure as she was focused on the holograms on the mantle. She was always drawn back to those photos. It provided clear evidence that she left her son in capable hands.

The sharp intake of breath verified Regina’s astonishment. The vague implication Emma had just made could have consequences neither of them were ready for. They had barely caught each other up on the last four years. Emma didn’t know just how hard it had been for Regina to step up and devote herself to another human being, and Regina had no idea how Emma spent her time and with whom. She could have very well moved on and created a life for herself, made new friends, established a routine with a significant other…

She shook her head, eyes fluttering. “I’m sorry. I didn’t offer you a drink. Would you…?” She made for the door.

“No!” Emma half rose from the sofa, eyes wide. Every molecule in her body couldn’t be parted from company, especially if that company came in the form of this woman. Regina was quite fetching in a dark navy dress. The string of pearls lay daintily below the base of her throat and seemed to make her skin glow ever brighter and Emma’s seemingly hotter. “No,” she said more softly. “I’m fine. Thank you.”

Nodding succinctly, Regina smoothed her dress down before sitting. “I read over the data you sent me earlier,” she said, suppressing her interest even though she had _poured_ over the intel. Suspense gripped her from the very first page and she found her heart racing by the end of it. “Were you trying to send me into cardiac arrest?”

Emma, breath suspended, finally let out a chuckling exhale. She shook her head, scrubbing at her forehead. “Yeah, maybe I should have prepared you. I know it’s kind of chilling –“

“Kind of? Dear, you could persuade the people of Earth to evacuate their homes on that evidence. You know what this means, don’t you? It could put the government permanently out of business. If they don’t have a clue what this energy vortex is or where it came from, then the public will protest. Confusion will cause a solar storm of paranoia. This kind of technology that you have on record cannot be explained much less replicated. I cannot imagine the repercussions if this anomaly remains unsolved.”

Emma nodded gravelly. “I hate to say it but those horror flicks Ruby goes on about might have been on to something.”

Regina inclined her head disapprovingly. “That’s not where I was leading. The vortex is steeped in mystery and mystery alone.” Regina sighed, eyes rolling irately. “It is not some hokum attraction that sells tickets and popcorn. I refuse to jump to outrageous conclusions until I have further proof – _solid_ proof. Keep in mind, this intel you have gathered is shocking but incomplete nonetheless. My concern lies with the HoloNet. This evidence cannot fall into the wrong hands.”

“You’re right,” Emma murmured, lost in thought. She sat forward, elbows on her knees and fingers steepled. “It wouldn’t do to cause a panic. We can’t even give them answers; it would be irresponsible of us to put the burden on them.”

The truth rang hard but it managed to find a home between them thanks to Emma. Regina raised a brow at the show of solidarity but filed it away for later analysis.

“There is a decision before me, one that I have reflected on since yesterday. I do not trust the fleet with this,” she said directly. Unsavory memory still overshadowed the reforms passed by her previous employer. It took more than a coup to change Regina’s mind about the people who sold her out. “Some things may have changed about the Commonwealth, but bureaucracy remains the same. The Council cannot see beyond their pride and base their decisions lightyears away from the action. That kind of irrationality gets people killed. I did not retire just to get dragged back into a debris of red tape.”

“So what are you saying? That you won’t help save the galaxy because you’re intimidated? Come on, Regina, you know as well as I do that authority never stood in your way. You ran over the competition like a tank rover. It’s not like you to pass up a challenge.”

“Maybe not four years ago, but now is a different case. I have a child to think about. I cannot go jetting off to locations unknown and leave Henry behind without a guarantee of returning. We both know the risks of space travel, how dangerous and uncertain the obstacles.” Regina snaked a hand through her hair and then made a chopping motion on her thigh to lay out the facts. “I had been a captain for eight years; I have seen what happens when crew are separated from loved ones and some cannot handle the distance. I just happen to be reasonable enough to consider my options before making a critical life decision.”

“How conscientious of you. Don’t you think you’re being overly reasonable?”

“Excuse me?”

“Love makes us do stupid things,” Emma reasoned point blank. “It makes us selfish – and selfless – but mostly encourages us to lose sight of the big picture, the grander galaxy. On the other hand, that selfishness saves lives.”

Regina counted all the ways in which Emma’s selfish desires had saved her and stifled a retort. It took some time for her to realize it, but she eventually saw to the heart of Emma’s motivations. Restarting _Storybrooke’s_ hyperdrive, thwarting a mutiny, trespassing on an entire Raider convoy… all for the sake of her captain. Yes, it had been born of self-interest – an orphan who just wanted to love and be loved – and yet those actions, when repeated, opened up a whole new perspective to Emma’s designs.

“I’m not saying I don’t believe you,” said Regina. “I just need a blasted good reason to go gallivanting off into the Outer Reaches, yet again. And saving the galaxy is not my idea of a reason. Henry is my reason now. He is the only one I care about.”

“And now that you’ve read the report? Are you still so impartial?”

Regina anticipated the question before Emma ever walked through the door. She swiveled her head, but continued to pin Emma with a serious gaze. “You have no intention of leaving here without an answer, so I should probably cut to the chase. Four years gods knows where has not turned you into a wizened pilot. Say what you will, but you are still the same defiant woman with a death wish. I am coming with you to the Outer Reaches, if anything, to protect others from your silly heroics.”

Emma’s eyes broadened. “Seriously? You’re not humoring me?”

“This is hardly the time for jokes. Yes, I am being serious, however there is something I must know before implicating myself in the harebrained scheme of reuniting ‘the gang,’” she mimed with a waggle of her head.

“Okay,” Emma swallowed, “what do you want to know?”

Regina stared, titling her head. She looked different. Something about the way Emma carried herself – a confidence, but not the usual roguish smile confidence Regina had associated with her former first officer. It was tentative acceptance, the kind that took years to master. And yet Emma held back; it showed in her stiff shoulders and how she removed her eyes from a hologram, a boy, and a promise. Held back not out of habit, Regina presumed as she read the shadows on Emma’s face, but fear of rejection.

“Why,” Regina breathed, straining to hear her own voice. “Why is it so important for you to figure out this anomaly? You would not have given it a second’s thought before, the threat of a mass invasion, so why now?”

The flesh of Emma’s lips grew pale when she pressed them together. Her eyes darted across the floor, hedging for an explanation already conceived.

Her unwillingness to answer bothered Regina. It angered her, really, like Emma held to the deluded belief that she didn’t deserve to know.

Hackles raised and lips pursed, Regina tried more forcibly. “I’m getting the impression, _dear_ , that you know more than you’re letting on. I have waited longer than most would deem acceptable and I have every right to know why.”

Regina paused at her wording. That was a very different question than she had planned on asking. She recovered some semblance of confidence with a toss of her head. Sleek brunette hair successfully caught the attention of a pair of green eyes and Regina smirked inside.

“It’s almost as if you gave caught the prophecy bug.” Condescension dripped from Regina’s honeyed voice, eliciting an old thrill within her. She could not approach the clerks and department heads of Misthaven with this brand of cheek, but Emma was an altogether different subject. “Converging head on with a concentration of high energy and a probable trap sounds an awful lot like you attempting to fulfill your duty as the savior.” Regina’s stare endured, equal parts accusing and aghast. “Is that your intention?”

Emma suffered a sigh. “Of course not. Like you, the only reason I need to go jetting off to the other side of the galaxy is Henry. Believe it or not, he’s all that’s every mattered to me.”

“That’s not what I –“

“I was scared of failing, but that’s not the only reason why I stayed away. Killian and I were investigating the anomaly and gathering intelligence. I was doing it to protect Henry. Whatever is out there in the Reaches, Henry will be safe from it and I couldn’t make sure of that until I knew why he had to stay safe.”

“Thank you. That’s all I needed to hear.”

Regina’s soft admittance and incline of head showed just how grateful she was. Without warning, she stood and walked out

Brow raised, Emma tilted forward to watch the hips sway out the doorway. “Uh, where are you going?”

“To make some calls,” Regina threw over her shoulder.

“So… make myself at home, I guess.”

Emma’s mumble came faint to her ears and she shrunk into the couch. Self-conscious of her presence there, she tried to make herself feel at home without jumping to conclusions. Part of her brain shorted out at the thought of Regina welcoming her to a more private wing of the house and from that point on she refused to ever think again. That didn’t work out so well.

How in seven hells did someone like her get invited to a place like this? Not knowing what to do with herself in this… _mansion_ , Emma fell back on habit. She snooped.

Nothing interested her but those holograms, so she made a point of staying away from them. Drawing to the wall of shelves, Emma fingered the spines of actual books – no fiction, just texts upon texts on quantum mechanics, psychology, flight strategy, the histories, etcetera. Not a surprise. Missing were medal displays and plaques to celebrate the captain’s honorable service record. No shock there. Emma smiled over a collection of children’s movies and sing along albums and… wait, what?

Emma’s finger drew back from the shelf. Curiosity mounted as she focused on the object wedged between _The Art of Tactical Command_ and a disc of _Space Man Joe: Through the Wormhole._

Emma looked around to make sure no one was spying on her spying. When she turned back, she made a decision that would either get her a mild scolding or spontaneously decompressed.

* * *

Regina left her home office in much brighter spirits than when she had last spoken to Admiral Hopper. Their previous conversation wouldn’t have gone so prickly if it hadn’t been for his constant pleadings to come back to the fleet. He prepositioned her at least once and month and after four years it grated on her. The fact that she hailed him out of bed at this hour didn’t mean she was being worn down. No, not at all. She just found it hard to say no to that adorable vagabond of a woman she left in her study.

Her mood grew easier by the second until she returned to the study. Everything was as she had left it with one glaring exception: music.

Something slow and jazzy caressed her ears. A shudder went through Regina. She blushed and shook it off. The album being played had to have been whatever she had last listened to on the stereo. Because Miss Swan and her insufferable curiosity couldn’t have had time to browse Regina’s music collection.

Emma smiled with hollow nerve. “I hope you don’t mind.”

The inconsistent bob of her heel to the beat proved how unaccustomed her interests ran to this genre of music. Regina wanted to laugh but felt that would send the wrong message.

“Do you touch everything that is not yours or am I just an exception?”

“Hey, it doesn’t have your name on it. Figured it was fair game.”

Regina’s eyebrows furrowed in confliction. She wished so much to laugh, to cry, to touch, and be sincere. She wanted – _needed_ – to express what had been suppressed for so long she might scream. Instead, her eyes rolled in good old-fashioned disdain à la Commander Mills. “Interesting. Last time I checked this was my house.”

“I know better than to take that bait.” When her snark failed to get a rise, Emma cast a forlorn look at the stereo and jerked her thumb. “Do you want me to turn it off?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Emma smiled softly. “Okay. Who did you comm anyway? Not that it’s any of my business.”

“Oh, but please assert full reign over my stereo.” Regina waved a glib hand before setting a serous tone. “I bypassed the advisory board and went straight to the source. Despite my blatant disregard of protocol, Admiral Hopper was _delighted_ to hear from me.” Regina pressed a finger to the drumming nerve at her temple. Her eyes sailed upward at the inanity of it all.

“At this time of night?”

“When an ex-commander of the fleet calls about a change of heart, HQ pays attention,” Regina flashed a wicked smile, “especially if that ex-commander is me.”

Emma snorted, the indecency earning a disapproving frown in return. “Archie knows, doesn’t he?”

“He does, and he is oddly thrilled that you have decided to continue heading the investigation. Apparently, the fleet is fresh out of star chasers.”

Emma folded her arms. “Just because I’m lending my services to Cosmofleet doesn’t mean I’m reenlisting.”

Pursing her lips around a smile, Regina held up her hands. “I’m not the one you have to convince. Just be sure not to sign any dubious contracts on this quest.”

“Are you saying that as my commander or…?”

“Well, you’re not reenlisting so I have no power over you.” For a split second, Regina’s smile faltered, confirming that that wasn’t entirely accurate. “I will have to resign from my position as mayor.”

The stagnant atmosphere was more than disquieting for the both of them.

“Can you do that?” Emma asked, eyes blinking wide.

“Of course I can. And before you ask, yes, I will do anything to protect Henry, which includes giving up my responsibility to this town. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to sacrifice.”

Emma nodded somberly. “Doesn’t make it any easier.”

“I have never regretted stepping down from my position as captain of the _Storybrooke_. I left my post to pursue a very fulfilling life, one I was not able to lead out there.”

“But now you’re going back.” Emma dipped her head with curiosity. “How do you feel about that?”

“I don’t know,” Regina answered honestly.

When she didn’t elaborate, Emma took deep breath and let it out along with some of the tension. “I don’t know what I’m going to tell Henry. I mean, I just came back into his life.” Her restless legs started wandering until she stopped, hand resting on the back of the sofa. “He’s not going to let me go again. Some part of me wishes he wouldn’t.” Emma chewed the inside of her cheek and suppressed the aching need to know how Regina is looking at her now.

Regina saw it transpiring before her sofa cushions got the brunt of it. “Don’t do this to yourself.”

Emma clutched the edge of the couch with both hands, leaning on it for support. She looked deathly pale and Regina moved on instinct.

Her hand closed around Emma’s forearm, a place not far from where she had stopped her that night in the guest bedroom. “You are not a pathetic person, Emma. Deep down you know what it means to be a mother. You have proven yourself to Henry - and I - on numerous occasions.” She exerted some sense into the woman and stared hard enough to will those despondent eyes to meet hers. “We will not give up on you, do you hear me?”

Emma huffed, looking away, but it wasn’t pity slipping into her hands and it didn’t feel like ambivalence embracing them. The gesture brought her back, tethering their eyes to one another.

A heartbeat later Emma blurted, “Want to dance?”

“What does that have to do with our present conversation?”

“Nothing really,” Emma replied, only briefly mortified by her actions. When Regina’s fingers wove absently through hers she found it hard to feel ashamed. “It’s just a dance.”

“Just a dance.” Regina humphed. She flicked a strand of hair from her face – unnecessarily, of course, because Emma was watching her with a fondness that said it was perfect. “Sounds like a needless risk,” her brows rose, “if your footwork is anything to go by.”

“You won’t know unless you take a chance.”

The sly grin enforced powers of persuasion Regina couldn’t hold a candle to. It was odd how persuasive Emma had become. Regina had become an easily yielding substance in her hands, ready to say and do anything asked of her.

One minute Regina agreed to throw away her title as mayor and put her captain’s hat back on and the next minute she had stepped forward, grasping a hand with her right and hooking the left on a shoulder.

“If I didn’t know any better, Miss Swan, I’d say you planned this from the start.”

“How far back are you implying? Because I don’t really think very far ahead.” Emma shrugged and grinned like a fool. “You know me.”

“Mm,” Regina’s voice grew husky, “I do indeed.”

Emma was at a lost for words. Her scorched, gobsmacked face did things to Regina. She could hardly stifle her laughter, so instead of heating Emma’s cheeks like an exhaust flame to paper, she danced.

* * *

Henry’s alarm chrono read past his bedtime when he snuck out of his room. Curiosity got the best of him. He couldn’t wait till the following morning to ask what had been going on, but there was one glaring fact he did know – Mom had stayed, not in the sense that she was staying in his life but staying in the house. She hadn’t left after dinner or when the dishes had been cleaned or even after she tucked him in. He was absolutely positive about his mother’s whereabouts because he was looking right at her.

He had to stand on his toes and lean a ways over the second floor banister, but he could see them. The study door had been left wide open; enough to reveal two figures with a blatant disregard for personal space.

There were some tunes playing as well, the kind of stuff Regina liked to listen to when he went upstairs to his hologames. Personally, he could live without the jazz. Apparently, he was the only one because Emma didn’t seem to mind. The piano riffs and trumpets’ licks were lively, but not loud enough to obscure the banter.

Henry strained his hears to catch a word, but gave up. He shook his head. Yeah, they didn’t mind the music one bit, which surprised him. Emma wasn’t a dancer.

So to see her now, waddling in place with eyes straining to hold Regina’s and not her feet, brought Henry to clamp a hand over his mouth. He snickered. Oh, Mom, he thought.

But _Regina_. What on Earth possessed her to accept? She had to have known Emma was the least coordinated humanoid in the solar system. If their dancing had been this awkward from the start, why put the poor woman through the shame of another song?

Unlike Emma, Regina was a superb dancer. She’d prepositioned Henry on more than one occasion including every birthday, holiday, and random dang day. She loved dancing like she loved her jazz, so Henry couldn’t break her heart. He’d smile tightly, shrug, and give in. The scratching drum may cause his ears to bleed, but it made her so happy. Happy… kind of like how she looked now.

While their dancing proved cumbersome, they managed to find a groove. Henry stood there on the top stair long enough to see it happen. With their usual bickering falling quiet, their feet moved in the barest of shuffles. By the next song they were nearing a standstill.

Henry knit his brow. He placed his chin where his hands laced over the banister and analyzed the situation. On the one hand, he was thrilled with this development. Regina never had to prove her loyalty to him, so she already felt like family. But Emma’s return cast an uncertain shadow over the idea of family. He didn’t know what that meant for this life he and Regina had made for themselves. Would Emma move to Misthaven? Would she allow him to continue living with Regina?

These questions didn’t matter when Henry saw Mom and Regina dancing and looking awfully close enough for foreheads to meet. On the other hand, it frustrated him that they weren’t talking out their issues. He wanted veritable proof that they were establishing a united front or even picking up where they left off, which, given enough time, Henry presumed would have resembled the domesticity of his present.

So why weren’t they discussing the real issue? Regina always taught him it was better to use his words than his fists (“something your mother, I’m sure, would disagree with”). If talk was the logical course of action, why wasn’t Regina taking her own advice? When had _dancing_ solved anything?

Henry scoffed out loud. Sometimes he wondered who was the adult around here.

They’re swaying now – he could make it out if he ducked to the side. Mom was holding Regina’s hand to her hideous sweater, right where her heart was. They were just looking at each other. How boring. If he really thought about it, though, it was kind of cute. Things were changing. There was always something there between them and it seemed like they were about to understand what. Even at four-years-old he had a sense of what brought those two within constant conflict.

It had been a long time coming. Henry breathed now with relief. They swayed, foot-to-foot, hearts beating in time, one waddling like her namesake, the other graceful as a feather. Cute, yeah, but if he stuck around any longer it might just lead to disgusting.

Henry made a face and retreated to his bedroom.

*** * ***

Per nightly routine, Regina checked in on Henry and found his door several inches more open than usual. Sighing, she knocked and peeked in.

The tablet he read his comics on sat on his nightstand, its dimmed screen verifying that it had been used a moment ago.

“Henry Swan,” she scolded, because when she signed the adoption papers three years ago she elected for him to keep his mother’s maiden name, “it is past your bedtime.”

“Ugh,” he groaned, like he could _never_ get anything past this woman. “I only had a few pages left!”

“You can finish it in the morning. Early to bed…”

“Yeah, yeah, early to rise. I know.”

With half-hearted exasperation, Regina went to pull the covers up to his chin. Her hands smoothed down the comforter and pleated it so seamlessly it was as if she had been doing it since the beginning of time.

Henry may have been a rebellious ten-year-old, but he allowed her to tuck him in every once in a while. The gesture still soothed him and his accepting it warmed her heart, so it was in both their best interests.

“Have you been sleeping well?” she asked tentatively.

“Eh… it would help if I wasn’t embalmed by blankets.”

Realizing her needless fussing, Regina clasped her traitorous hands. “I take it your class is still on the unit about pyramids?”

“It’s interesting stuff and would have made an awesome field trip. Too bad people back then didn’t work together to protect and conserve ancient Egyptian heritage.”

Regina smiled at his carefully articulated words. They had already had the bulk of this conversation with his teacher during parent/teacher conferences. Or in her case, _guardian_ /teacher. “Mm, well that’s Old World politics for you.”

She sat on the edge of the bed. She could see his sleepy features in the blue glow of his holographic alarm chrono. Smiling softly, she reached out to brush the bangs from his forehead. Her thumb lingered at his temple, the backs of her fingers smoothing down his cheek.

“You look happy.”

How could she not? Regina looked deeply into his eyes and continued smoothing his hair back (which definitely needed a cut, hopefully within this century). “I certainly am.”

Henry’s eyebrow inched up. “You think my mom had anything to do with that?”

The frown hardly got across her puzzlement. She was more irritated that Henry of all people had picked up on her mood. He was closer to her than anyone, so she couldn’t bare to lie to his face or keep him from what was truly in her heart – marks of love and all.

“The only thing that matters to me is your happiness.”

The cop out elicited a sigh from Henry.

“If you’re happy,” she insisted, “then so am I.” She squeezed the leg mummified under several layers. “Please believe that I will always want the best for you. Whatever happens.”

Unshed tears accumulated and Regina thanked the gods that the room was cloaked in darkness. She didn’t want Henry to worry. If she lost him to his rightful parent, if he preferred to live with Emma to her, then she would allow it. It would be a vibroknife in the heart, but he deserved to be with the mother that gave birth to him, named him, and loved him enough to make the ultimate sacrifice.

“Are you going to thank me yet?”

Regina’s head rose. She swallowed the lump in her throat, mentally shaking off her miserable prospects. “For what, sweetheart?”

“Finding my mom and bringing her back.”

There were obvious undertones to that. Was Regina grateful for Emma’s return? Or did she resent her for intruding? The most important question of the year remained: would Regina thank his meddling, something that had yet to reveal their fates? It was something both of them had been losing sleep over, but only one of them dreaded the consequences.

Regina gave him a pointed look that was unmistakable in the shadows. “Goodnight, Henry,” she bid with finality before rising to leave.

“Night!” he sang, chuckling to himself.

Despite her lack of an answer, hope swelled in Henry all the more. Even if those dancing moves weren’t anything to transmit home about, there was something about his mom that made Regina linger. She may not want to admit it, but Emma put the thrill of the unknown back into her life.


	4. Chapter 4

When Admiral Hopper received the news that Regina Mills would be signing on to the fleet’s clandestine mission in the Outer Reaches, he wasted no time putting things in motion. Preparations were made to bring the _Storybrooke_ out of its museum exhibit and fast track it through safety inspections. He enlisted the assistance of the fleet’s finest recruiters in tracking down the old crew and prepositioning them with a hefty bonus. Regina’s one condition was that she would get her senior officers back, no more, no less, and, yes, even helmsman Gold.

Two weeks later, a grand recommission ceremony was presented to the _Storybrooke_. Cosmofleet spared no expense in making this the celebration of the year. The military gala, though highly publicized leading up to its commencement, was closed to the holonews and all journalists. It was attended by hundreds of guests, a scattering of Cosmofleet’s finest among a few politicians.

Regina handed her invitation over to the tuxedo-clad security guard. His eyes read her name and he went from stiff-collared to bumbling in microseconds. He dropped her card and excused his clumsiness all while flushing a deep rose. Regina rolled her eyes and swept past.

The outdoor festivities were growing livelier. A hundred or so guests had already arrived while a steady influx of guests filtered through the entrance. The night sky was black as pitch. The lights twinkled in Regina’s eyes as she scanned the grounds, swearing to herself that she looked for no one in particular.

The fleet certainly knew how to throw a party. If Headquarters made decisions in the record time spent setting up such extravagance, they could actually do some good in the universe.

Regina’s mouth worked in a twisted combination of amusement and revulsion.

She sauntered through the gala with its string lights and patriotic banners. If she made eye contact or bumped elbows she’d most likely get roped into a one-sided dialogue about her honorable service record and all she had contributed to future generations of officers. Like Regina didn’t know it herself. She had no intention of hearing a blow by blow of her own reputation.

Make an appearance, that’s what Archie asked of her. Make an appearance and keep the status quo: Regina Mills, legendary ex-commander, has decided to return to active duty and captain the _Storybrooke_ to its rightful place in the cosmos. Since her retirement, the starship had been decommissioned out of respect. No one in Cosmofleet could imagine the _Storybrooke_ without its captain. They were synonymous with each other; one could not be spoken in conversation without the other. In a rare instance, Regina had agreed with a decision from Headquarters and gave her home up to the on site museum located on Presidio grounds. She hadn’t seen it since her last day as captain. She couldn’t bear to bid farewell to the only place she called home.

Now, neck craned to the starry sky, Regina made out her beloved. It was just as majestic as she had left it. The _Storybrooke’s_ sleek curves stood out under the spotlights as it sat parked at the epicenter of the gala. Although this night celebrated Regina and her crew, their vessel was undoubtedly the event’s centerpiece. Guests could walk right up to the ship’s hull and smooth their hand over its durasteel integrity. Not many could confess to beholding such majesty much less touching it.

Regina walked up to the wet bar and ordered a glass of wine. The bartender raised a brow, opening his mouth to offer a more popular option, but decided against it at her glare. Champagne was for celebrating. Regina had nothing to celebrate when she was taking Henry’s mother away from him again. Though she swore to herself it was the last time, she could make no such promise to that boy, not when their assignment cloaked itself in mystery and incalculable danger.

The fact that she was lying to Henry didn’t fall under the realm of celebration either. She could swallow lying to the public and telling them how much she’d miss Cosmofleet, but to ensure that little boy she would return before his eleventh birthday? That they would be together for Christmas and make hot chocolate and get whipped cream over their noses?

It turned her inside out, and not in a good way. Her body felt like pins and needles when she hugged him now, as if keeping him any closer would harm him in the long run. Regina had her reservations about assisting Emma’s investigation, but only one had tear-tracks running down her face after putting him to bed. Her mind raced with outcomes, horrifying instances that she might have complete control over. What if she didn’t come back? What would Henry think if she came back and his mother didn’t? Sacrifice one, to save another… Emma had proven several times over that she had it in her. But did Regina?

It had been two weeks and Regina still didn’t have any answers. She only found solace in the fact that she was making this possible one-way trip for Henry’s future. The vortex may be a harmless phenomenon, an utter mystery, or a ticking time bomb, but she could be at peace when knowing she was doing this for him.

And Emma…

Regina sculled the rest of her wine before shaking her head. It did little to force that blonde-headed scoundrel from her mind.

Emma was a whole other matter, one Regina had berated herself over. If she felt like a cloned porcupine when hugging Henry, being in close contact to Emma melted her down to star dust.

She could not get too close, especially now that their return to duty demanded a bit of professionalism on their part. Staying away proved very difficult, so difficult in part to the puppy eating her homemade scraps.

The years away from Henry had taken their toll on Emma. Even now that she was back in his life, however unsettled, she had yet to feel as wholesome as she looked, which was not very wholesome. Emma’s face had been lean and pale as if she had missed one too many days dinning over greasy burgers and fries. It worried Regina, the sallow skin and the shadows. Even her smile wasn’t the same. It didn’t hold the intensity of a thousand suns. Regina didn’t feel the same giddy feelings it used to elicit.

Loneliness blanketed Emma like the fabric of dark matter. That cold, nonluminous material could not be breached by Henry’s love, not in the beginning when he had reasserted himself into her life. Armor once brittle had been reinforced by days of cold space travel, months without goodnight kisses, and years removed from witty comebacks. It seemed that nothing could be done, but Regina knew… she knew she had to try.

Since that night, dancing hand in hand with Emma, Regina made it her prerogative to do everything in her power to make Emma feel a part of something special. She fed her homemade meals that left her stuffed and hanging over the table for more. She donated the time she spent with Henry, even the few hours spared after a hectic workday. It wasn’t much, but Regina tried and she couldn’t admit to doing so with any other sentient.

If anything, Emma had been spending more time around Henry. Regina wouldn’t let disappointment set in or allow herself to examine why she felt affected at all. A little loneliness was a small price to pay for hearing laughter again – the kind of laughter only Emma could provoke. It was the only explanation for Regina’s sacrifice, for her softened heart. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do to bring mother and son together. It was inevitable.

The party was in full swing now with the orchestra playing and revelers gliding across the ballroom floor. The throngs had gotten thicker, the quiet havens and spaces between shrinking. There was nowhere for Regina to hide, so she accepted her predicament and broke the one directive she made going into this gala.

* * *

“Drink that champagne any faster and you’ll float your way to the stratosphere.”

Mary Margaret nearly choked trying to swallow and defend herself at the same time. She dapped her chin with the back of her hand and shook her head profusely. “I am so outside my element here, Emma. This is just not right.”

Emma smiled at her friend’s powder blue gown. “But you look alright.”

“I own a closet full of lab coats and sweaters, Emma.” Mary Margaret cocked her head admonishingly as if the detail slipped Emma’s mind. “It took the store clerk several hours to get me a dress that fit my demeanor. I’m a doctor not a ballerina,” she said, sulking.

“At least it’s not popsicle orange. Then we’d have an emergency on our hands.”

“I see you managed to make an effort. You look very nice. The uniform suits your frame.”

Annoyance turned to pride in light of the compliment. Emma puffed out her chest and smoothed down the lapels of her uniform. While it wasn’t every day she broke the thing out of storage, she did delight in how it looked on her.

“Why thank you,” she said.

They proceeded to catch up on events both personal and professional. Not willing to let Emma run away from her a second time, Mary Margaret made her promise to keep in touch. Emma didn’t have much of a choice when she was practically held at scalpel-point.

The doctor had been teaching at the academy for the past three years. Once Regina resigned, the crew of the _Storybrooke_ dispersed. Not everyone continued to stay in the fleet though. For those like Mary Margaret who stayed on, they found their place among the average, the folks who didn’t have the stomach for recycled air or the inside of a cockpit. Mary Margaret was absolutely taken with her students. She appreciated their effort and the inspiring glint in their eyes. She could see budding doctors in the ones who tried hardest in lab, even the ones too squeamish to perform a dissection.

But like many waylaid officers of _Storybrooke_ , Mary Margaret was restless. She missed the routine of living aboard a starship and the cold, ammonia polished floors of Medbay. When news of the _Storybrooke_ returning to its commission broke, fond memories came flooding back. The prospect of going back thrilled her. Emma was beyond puzzled.

“Weren’t you always saying how dangerous space travel is and that you getting promoted to chief medical officer was a fluke?”

“Not a fluke, a default. I got the job because Doctor Whale compromised his principles.” Mary Margaret flapped a hand. “Regardless, that was years ago. I hold no ill feelings towards space travel. _Storybrooke_ has changed all that.”

Emma thought about her friend’s impressive transition aboard the ship. Much good stemmed from Mary Margaret’s time there. She had certainly come out of her shell and she’d made so many friends. But the _Storybrooke_ was a mixed bag of apples – the good in the form of David, Ruby, Leory, Belle, sometimes Rumple on a good day, and others. When the bad showed its face it was really bad, like when rumors started spreading of Mary Margaret’s illegitimacy.

Attitudes towards synthetic artificial intelligence were shaky at best and progress towards android rights had always been a rocky, uncertain road. Some accepted Mary Margaret and agreed to keep it quiet.

Others threatened to tip off Headquarters if she wasn’t kicked off the ship. Regina intervened and ordered each and every naysayer to her office – _separately_. The meetings took place under strict confidentiality, so no one actually knew what occurred behind that closed hatch. To make a long story short, once the culprits left her cabin they didn’t speak another unkind word against Mary Margaret from that moment on.

Since then Emma had wondered behind such upstanding show of leadership. Was it because Regina had put the past behind her and allowed herself to like Mary Margaret? Or perhaps because she wouldn’t see Emma lose her best friend?

Nevertheless, Regina committed a gallant deed and Emma was grateful beyond words.

“Oh my stars!” Mary Margaret gaped at something over Emma’s shoulder. “It’s the commander! Get out of the way!” she hissed, ducking her head as if that disguised her entire presence. “I have to go before she sees me!”

Emma raised a puzzled brow. “Why don’t you want her to see you?”

“Because she’ll make fun of my dress, Emma,” she informed with a scolding frown. “I adore the captain, but she has a tendency to be snooty about who wears it best. She doesn’t even have to say anything. Her eyebrows are capable of performing several degrees of displeasure. I’m an android and even I can’t mimic them all!” She lifted her dress and scampered off.

“I think you’re overreacting! She –“

The rest of her sentence dangled off her tongue, which subsequently snaked out to wet her lips. She’d never seen Regina wear a dress. Never even imagined it because no one could look any sexier and put together in a blazer. It finally occurred to Emma’s sluggish brain that Regina might have other items in her closet besides uniforms and pantsuits.

With a hint of a smirk, Regina came sashaying over. She seemed oblivious to the powder blue dress and its occupant who was stepping on toes trying to jet.

While most of the female guests came in gowns, Regina was easily the most beautiful. Her hair was piled up and loose ringlets framed her face. Her dress’s cobalt bodice hugged her womanly curves and pushed up her breasts in a conservative presentation. The dress billowed from the waist down. Its stiff satin fabric did not allow for a fancy twirl but it helped slim a great physique. The hem fluttered like silk through blades of grass and Emma couldn’t take her eyes off it. Some weird part of her wanted to know how petite Regina’s feet were and what heels she wore.

“Eyes up here, Miss Swan.”

Emma’s eyes snapped up. She went crimson from the neck up. This was definitely not the time to ogle. She cleared her throat and stood to attention.

“Captain,” she saluted with a hint of a smirk.

“Not yet,” Regina pointed out.

“Hey, you’re captain in here.” Emma tapped her own heart. “That’s what counts. And before you say it, yes, I know you are more than that.” When Regina didn’t speak up, she ducked her head, kicking a tuff of genetically perfected grass up. “Maybe when we get some time later, just the two of us, we can sit down and talk about it. I’d like you to know how I see things. It matters to me: you knowing.”

Regina smiled softly. The expression faded as she took in Emma’s appearance. The gratitude in her eyes remained but for a completely different reason. After all the times she snapped at Emma to wear her uniform at formal gatherings it had finally happened. The galaxy seemed to come to a complete standstill at this rare occasion.

The uniform fit her like a glove. Regina noted the clean and pressed fabric with an impressed raise of her brow. Emma was simply breathtaking. She just wished Emma would take her advice more often.

Clearing her throat, Regina dug inside her clutch and handed an item over. Emma turned the medal over in her hands, gazing on it with surprise. Although she knew about her elevation to commander, it was more honorary than anything. After her heroism during the Cosmofleet/Freedom Raider standoff, Emma had been offered her own commission. She undoubtedly played a hand in preventing all out war and many in Cosmofleet wouldn’t forget it. She only hoped her return to duty wouldn’t give them the wrong idea. She was acting as a consultant, nothing more.

“Archie commed me about it, but I was tied up with a contract,” Emma explained, polishing the medal with a reverent thumb. She may not have wanted to be in command, but she was proud of her accomplishments. She shrugged and her voice grew fainter. “I never did get to see it.”

“Because you never came back for it,” Regina said in an edgy tone.

Emma clicked her teeth shut. “Thank you for holding on to it.” She grinned, half guilty for putting the burden on Regina and half grateful that the medal had been kept safe all these years. She fumbled with the pin, trying to attach it to the flap of her uniform pocket.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake. Come here.”

Regina pulled her in by the lapels and snatched the medal from Emma’s limp hands. Emma just froze, arms out at her sides, staring at the gentle fingers grazing her breast. She could feel so much in that moment: the hot breath ticking her cheek, the nimble fingers, and the pull it elicited deep within her belly. It could have been her imagination, but she _might_ have let out a strangled moan.

“Wow,” she swallowed, “yeah, thanks a bunch.”

Regina muttered something along the lines of “idiot” before retreating with arms crossed and a put upon expression.

Emma’s eyes glazed over Regina from head to toe as she remarked, “I don’t want to end this night without expressing my congratulations. It doesn’t feel right setting foot on that ship without you in command. I’m very grateful that you agreed to return. Also, you look like a million credits.”

Regina bit her bottom lip and gave a seductive once over. “Not as stunning as you in that uniform.”

A blush as hot as the Tirat sun filled Emma’s cheeks. She turned her head to the side, combing through her hair. “Ah, so where’s Henry tonight?”

“He’s napping in the limousine.” Regina’s poker face inspired a comically shocked response. “Oh, please. August and Ren are looking after him. I gave them permission to order pizza as long as Henry gets to bed at a reasonable hour.”

Emma cackled. “Ren’s not the type to kneel before an authority figure. You’re not _that_ ferocious.”

“Try me, dear.”

“I have. Sorry. I’ve been there and you are just a teddy bear at heart.”

Regina grew red with ire. She stepped forward and insisted in her most devastating Evil Queen voice, “A teddy bear with a _blaster_.”

“Yeah, a blaster fit for a teddy bear.”

Hands clenched at her sides and nerve pulsing at her temple, Regina fumed.

She’s fuming like a pretty princess, Emma thought dreamily.

“By the way,” she mumbled, “we should probably decide what we’re going to do about Henry when we’re away.”

Cooling off at the thought of Henry, Regina said, “Well, I have known August now for quite some time. Not only has he earned my trust, he has developed a very healthy bond with Henry.”

“Oh.”

“What? Do you not approve?”

“I was actually planning on bringing Henry along with us.” At Regina’s rising hackles, Emma patted her hands out. “Just hear me out. The _Storybrooke_ is the safest, most well equipped ship in the galaxy. You and I have qualifications no babysitter has. We can protect him better if he’s with us.” Emma bit her lip before continuing. “And… also… I miss him. I’ve tried seeing this both ways and I just can’t reconcile leaving him again.”

Regina drew a hasty breath through her nostrils. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes, he may accompany us.”

“Well, I know I’m persuasive, but…” Emma’s eyes narrowed. Her lips perked to a sly smile. “Oh, I see. It’s because you’ll miss him too. You can’t bear to leave him behind anymore than I can.”

“Don’t get smug, Miss Swan. You know very well how I feel about that boy. He is my galaxy and I will never let any harm come to him.”

Their eyes met in unspoken agreement. Emma shared a private smile with her polished shoes. She thought it odd how they now thought of Henry as theirs without actually coming to a formal agreement. There was much unfinished business of course: Emma’s estrangement and her intentions after returning, and Regina’s ties with Henry and how she’d commit herself to a vacuum before breaking them. After all the complications in working together to find a balance, ironically, they have hit no snags in caring for him the past two weeks and diverting to each other’s input. It was odd but heart warming all the same.

Regina didn’t have to prove her objectives anymore. They both cared for Henry and would put him first above anyone or anything. They couldn’t afford to be at a headlock when it concerned him. In the end, they would rather ignore the hard questions. If either one of them brought up the nitty gritty of contract law it would send them spiraling down a black hole of indignation. It was a place neither wanted to go.

Emma felt a familiar insecurity creep up on her and thought back to the past couple days – her interactions with Henry in particular.

He still hadn’t shown much affection towards her. Based on his behavior lately, he just skirted the line between friend and parent. It was obvious how he kept his distance and protected his heart by shying away from emotion around her. He had built a wall around his heart.

A lot seemed to have rubbed off on him since being in Regina’s care. More than expected because he was proper as hell and had the manners and discipline of a junior officer – at least at his house, Emma thought as she thought back to the orange juice episode. Leave it to Captain Mills to run her home like a starship. Truthfully, Emma felt for her. Regina lost her ship four years ago to decommission and retirement, along with her crew. She left of her own accord, but still missed it with a vengeance. Emma could tell by the longing glances Regina gave the starship on display

Regina perceived the turmoil in Emma’s eyes and offered a tender smile. “He needs time, Emma. He’ll warm back up to you, we all do.”

Emma’s heart soared. “Oh yeah?”

The cocky smirk came so natural it was as if no time at all had passed from their days bantering on the _Storybrooke_. Regina felt her face heating up and turned her head away, scoffing, “It’s not a competition, dear. I don’t break down as fast to those beseeching looks that are on par with a puppy’s eyes.” She flipped her hair back to the lie.

Guffawing, Emma asked, “Are you calling my son easy?”

Regina shrugged. “He’s _your_ son.”

“Right,” drawled Emma with a giggle and thought, _Let’s see who’s son he is when he aces his first simulator._

At that moment the band struck up a waltz and Emma suppressed a pout. She may settle for a slow dance behind closed doors, but this was definitely not her thing. Orchestras and dresses and flawless footwork and Regina making her look so out of her league.

A prickle on the back of her neck told Emma she was being watched, so she covered her discomfort by snagging a waiter in passing and swiping a glass of champagne. She downed it in just a few gulps before returning it. The attendant gave her a peculiar stare before moving on.

The alcohol only partially eased her discomfort. The deep concern etched into Regina’s face suddenly made Emma feel responsible.

“Credit for your thoughts?”

Regina visibly jumped. She scolded Emma’s intrusion with pinched brows before answering. “The commander of the _Storybrooke_ is returning after four years of retirement. Apparently she didn’t take to it so well. Everyone has proved her wrong.” Her face creased in scorn before admitting, “I know that’s the story we’re selling to the public, but I am not going back to the fleet long-term. That chapter of my life ended four years ago.”

“Is that really how you see it?” Emma gawked, stunned. “After the mission is wrapped, who captains the ship? Because the Regina I know would rather dive into a black hole than allow someone else to take her place. The _Storybrooke_ is like your child. Everyone knows you’re her only mother.”

Regina sighed. “Which makes this all the more difficult.”

“Going back? Or knowing you will retire again?”

Held back from answering, Regina creased her brow and watched Emma like she just might possess the solution. Of course, it was absurd that she would be. Regina wasn’t coming out of retirement for Emma’s sake any more than she would go back to living a square life in Misthaven for the fun of it. Emma did not resemble the solution. She was the paradox, the contradiction to Regina’s principles and the distraction that challenged her bounds.

Regina took a deep breath and felt it expend every bit of her energy on the way out. “Both.” It would be difficult because she never understood how to let go.

Emma lent her captain a bit of reassurance in the form of a tightlipped smile. Anything more would have been met with disapproval.

“Emma,” sighed Regina, cheeks flushed not with desire but frustration, “if it were not for you I would not be here. I don’t know whether to thank you or blast you.”

Emma uttered a humorless laugh, thinking of Ren’s temper and her loose trigger finger. ”The latter has been known to happen.”

“Why can’t you just accept the quiet life planetside and leave the heroism to someone else?”

A goofy smile drew across Emma’s face. “Why are you always two steps behind me? Like you need to watch my every move?”

“I’m following you because you asked me to.”

Emma’s brows soared. It’s not what she expected, obviously, because her usual comeback still poised on the tip of her tongue. Her lips parted and she hesitated. Her discipline in balancing prudence and impulse had been in such disrepair lately she could hardly control her faculties.

Her eyes became downcast as she took in an unsteady breath. “You shouldn’t say that if –“  

“Hello, love.”

Regina’s eyes widen at the drawling accent and then proceed to roll. “ _Emma_ …” She glared at the woman, hands on her hips.

“Heeey, Killian.” Emma smile was uneasy as she shifted her gaze between them. Regina, no doubt, was under the impression that she invited Killian. Which happened to be false, not that that would stop Regina from clawing the guy’s eyes out. To the former commander he may have assisted in her rescue from Quarthos, but he was still a smug double-dealer. Maybe Emma should have brought her blaster.

Killian looked about as smart as he would ever be. His white shirt looked relatively clean and the brown leather jacket didn’t appear to have any blaster grazes adorning its fine material. He forwent a shave, but his trousers were without wrinkles and his boots were polished.

He stroked his chin at Regina before offering it out in a handshake. “I hear congratulations are in order…”

Regina stared at the hand, wondering if this was his prosthetic and whether he’d miss it. Her eyes were so sharp she could have sliced the limb off with sheer willpower.

“…Ehm,” Killian cleared his throat, brushed his finger and thumb together, and pulled it back. He turned to Emma and looked her over. “Nice night for a party. We scourges of the galaxy clean up nicely, aye?”

Emma waited for it with a crinkling cringe to her eyes. Sure enough there emitted a loud, scathing groan.

“If you will excuse me,” said Regina. “I require some fresh air. Someone’s ego has taken up all the oxygen.”

“But we’re outside, love!” he shouted after and flourished an arm to the air. “There’s plenty of oh-two to go around.”

“I don’t think she meant it like that,” Emma muttered from the side of her mouth.

“Commander hasn’t recommenced duty and she’s already cranky as a wombat.”

Not wanting to put much stock in Regina’s mood, Emma changed the subject. “Do I want to know how you got clearance to this gala?”

“I’ll have you know there was no altercation with security. I come by very legal means. Very legal. Admiral Hopper presented an invitation in the hopes that our two great nations drink from the same champagne. We pirates can occasionally rub elbows with the good little boys and girls of Cosmofleet.” He shrugged, squinting at the glamorous bystanders as he muttered, “I only had to make a promise or two.”

Emma snorted. “Oh, this is gonna be good.”

Killian stuck his fingers out to each one. “No libations, no cursing, no business, no weapons of any kind…” He scrubbed his chin and stared off into the distance. “I’m sure there was more, but those are the ones that stick out.”

“That’s a lot of 'no’s.'”

“Aye, I’m feeling them. It doesn’t leave much for an old pirate like me to get _into_ – trouble or naught.” He leaned in and winked.

The saucy display had Emma rolling her eyes towards the more thought provoking. “Making nice has turned you charming or bored. You’re eager for company so you come to me, knowing my allegiances – and preferences. You want to ask me already or are we going to dance around it all night?”

The fingers at Killian’s side tapped his thigh. He idly stood by as Emma waited out his silence. Realizing this was getting him nowhere, he bit the inside of his cheek and said, “I thought I saw your Davy boy around here. Didn’t think scientists gel well with dancing – if at all. What,” he laughed shortly, “do they observe and report the festivities? Analyze the waltz pattern?”

“No,” Emma grew red from suppressing her smirk, “just asking around for a certain reformed pirate.”

Killian’s suave poise fell completely. Anxiety and hesitation – what Emma knew to be a slice of the real Killian Jones and not the scoundrel image – overwhelmed him to speechlessness. His eyes gave a quick scrutiny of his surroundings. It wasn’t half as discreet as the wetting his lips received. “Oh, well if you would –“

Emma pointed. “That way.”

“Aye,” he breathed and started walking.

She shook her head, grinning. “Your welcome.”

Towards the end of the party, when the champagne ran dry and guests had shuffled off into their air cabs, Emma decided to call it a night. She abstained from drink so that she wouldn’t have to shell out for the drive home, not to mention having to ask for a ride. There were few goodbyes to make. Mary Margaret and Kathryn left early after an exhausting two-hour debate on pre-flight psych assessment, Leroy had stumbled drunkenly out after his new (and hopping mad) girlfriend Astrid, and Killian and David vanished from sight. Emma had hoped to share one last laugh with Ruby but she seemed busy taking some young dignitary home (to who’s home, Emma didn’t hazard a guess).

There weren’t many at the party whom Emma knew personally to begin with. Parted from the few friends she shared the night with, that left only Admiral Hopper and Regina. The two of them were in deep conversation at one of the dinner tables. Admiral Hopper looked exceptionally noble in his admiral’s uniform (something he only wore on special occasions).

Regina didn’t lose an ounce of glamour since Emma last saw her. Her cheeks were warm from the wine standing empty at her elbow, her eyes sparkled with energy, and she was smiling in gaiety. It came to a point where she looked so happy that Emma didn’t want to take her away from all this. Because when she did, it was a forwent conclusion that peril and loss waited around every star.

“I hope I’m not intruding.”

Their head rose simultaneously. Archie smiled. “Not at all, Emma. Please, have a seat.”

“Thank you, but I’ll pass. I’m actually on my way out and just wanted to say nice shoes.”

Their chuckles mingled in the chilling night air. Archie poked his loafer-clad foot out from under the table for them to see. “I just can’t part from them. Even if it’s for a few hours.”

“Hey,” Emma shrugged, “whatever is comfortable.”

Regina a fixed a stern expression that had no hopes of staying put. “No one would dare contradict an admiral,” she said, grinning.

“I’m a mere humble servant.”

“Really, Admiral?” Emma folded her arms. She was oblivious as her cocked hip drew a brown-eyed glance. “You led the fleet through a military coup and advised the Commonwealth into a more democratic society. You’re not a mere servant, you’re practically the leader of the free galaxy.”

“Ignore her,” Regina pulled her amused eyes away as she advised her mentor. “She has stars in her eyes and you, Admiral, do not require praise. Your actions speak for themselves as does your humility.”

Archie shook his finger. “We can debate this till the sun comes up, but you still…”

Emma tuned out somewhere along the way. The other two hardly noticed, which was for the best because she had sunk so deeply into her own thoughts she wouldn’t have known what they were talking about. There was also the not-so-subtle fact that she couldn’t tear her eyes from Regina. A question niggled at the back of her mind all night and the chance to ask had now arrived. The opportune moment came… and she felt her mouth go dry.

Emma’s courage faltered in the shadow of this beautiful, impressive woman. She couldn’t believe Regina had doubts about being mother material. It was absurd because she had done a brilliant job. Henry lived a healthy and happy life. Emma owed so much to Regina for taking such good care of him, giving him a home, and loving him when his own mother couldn’t from nearby.

Standing in the shadow of the better mother, Emma couldn’t help feeling like a second-rate parent. Regina’s successful career both as a commander and as a mayor intimidated the hell out of her. It intimidated her to speechlessness.

When Archie finally noticed the inert figure taking up space his dialogue dragged off into silence. He followed Emma’s stare and back. Thirty years of intuition had the corner of his mouth turning up.

“Oh, gee, I should be getting back. Pongo still needs his walk and I’ll catch seven hells from the sitter if I don’t relieve her of the anxious monster.” He rose from the table, but before leaving he studied his friend. “Regina, you look tired. Don’t argue. You may still have some of the hardened captain in you but you are still humanoid and get worn out like the rest of us.” He shot a seemingly innocent smile at Emma and suggested, “Emma, you should give her a ride back home. She’s far too trusting with those air cabbies.”

Regina’s face scrunched. She knew full well that she was the least trusting when it came to taxi drivers and was pretty sure the admiral knew it too.

Archie inclined his head in Emma’s direction. “That’s an order.”

He had all put placed Emma’s hand in Regina’s and the former had to flush at that. It was downright embarrassing that it took a superior near twice her age to encourage her. Not thrilled with an admiral (much less a man) teaching her how to court a lady, Emma decided to step up to the plate.

“Okay, Archie. I’ll take it from here.” Emma gave his fleeting form an informal salute.

“Since when am I not a grown woman capable of driving myself home?”

“Since you arrived in a one-way limousine and fancied a near two bottles of wine.”

“ _One_.” Regina stalked towards the parking structure in a surprisingly steady manner and mumbled something along the lines of, “Brat.”

Smirking, Emma followed like an obedient officer.

The turbolift took them up several levels until they reached the top of the parking structure. The open-air platform was breezy and devoid of vehicles bar one, which stood in a little alley reserved for speeder bikes. It stuck out like a sore thumb.

“You are spaced out. Do you know that?”

Emma rolled her eyes and silently went about the power up sequence. The speeder bike gave a sputter and then a jagged purr. She restrained the urge to rev the engine over the incessant whining.

“I must have stumbled into a worm hole. Because in no reality will I be _mounting_ that yellow rusted crap of metal.”

“It’s a classic, Regina.”

“You are out of your blasted mind if you think I’m setting foot near that thing. It is a hazard waiting to happen.”

“I’ve never crashed it, Regina!” growled Emma. “Not in the ten years I’ve owned and maintained it. Really, if you didn’t need this ride I’d say get lost. My pride and joy doesn’t need your negative energy.”

“I don’t need this ride.”

“Yes, you do. Come on.”

Regina folded her arms and cocked her head. She scrutinized the gears exposed around its yellow coverings. “Just when was its last upgrade?”

“A few days ago,” Emma replied, earning an impressed raise of the head. “I make my own modifications – to put my own stamp on it so to speak. It also saves a few credits. As someone who used to work in a body shop I can tell you they cut you at the knees in exchange for shoddy work.”

Regina may have replied with a noncommittal hum, but her shoulders appeared to have relaxed.

Emma’s fiddling paused. Her faraway stare met the heat of a vibrating cover. “I just don’t like strangers touching my things. I repair her myself so I don’t have to see the memories I upgraded over.”

“The dancer?”

Chuckling, Emma shook her head. “The ex before Ariel.”

“Mm,” Regina hummed again, a bit more attentive. Now she _really_ had mixed feelings about this ride, and for entirely different reasons. “Is it safe?”

“You’re the captain of the fastest ship in the fleet and you’re afraid to ride this speeder?”

“ _Was_ the captain of the fastest ship in the fleet. I’m sure my retirement has leveled the playing field,” Regina corrected glumly. “And I am _not_ afraid.”

“Prove it.”

“You are childish. How on this earth did you pass flight school?”

“Hey, I ended up under your command so I must have really flunked out.”

Regina wanted to rid the smirk with something hard that would leave a mark. Instead she glared. “Even if I wanted to, is there any feasible solution to my impractical dress?” She waved a hand over herself, knowing full well Emma would be stumped by this conundrum. “Unless you have a spare pair of pants in your pocket…”

“Well, no, but I fit my speeder with a luggage compartment.” Emma opened the rear section above the back wheel and procured a pair of pants. She met Regina’s narrowed stare and replied simply, “I’m prepared.”

Regina raised a brow, a grin tugging at her lips. “Is this a facet of the new and improved Emma Swan?”

“I’m full of surprises these days.”

Regina swiped the trousers with a doubtful twist of her lips and slipped behind a stack of duracrete blocks. The open-air platform lent little privacy, but at two hundred meters above ground there would be no spectators. And it’s not like Regina had ever been self-conscious about her body – her only exception being the likely blushing blonde on the other side.

As a means of distracting her from that glaring assumption, Regina made conversation. “Henry is always asking me to take him to the amusement park. I take him, of course, knowing he’ll heckle me to ride the most dangerous simulation. I suppose you’re the one I have to thank for Henry’s obsession with fast vehicles.”

Emma’s laugh was filled with many happy memories. “Hey, _I’m_ not the commander of a _Regal_ -class. He idolized you since he was four years old. There’s no stopping an obsession like that.”

Regina smiled fondly, thinking of a chubby-cheeked Henry glowing up at her like she was this deity of budding little pilots everywhere. She’d carry that memory of him with her forever.

“But I didn’t allow him on this thing,” Emma continued. She threw one leg over the saddle and settled in. “I used to borrow Mulan’s hover car when I needed to, but this was all I could afford. I told Henry it was off limits to him, but that never stopped his incessant pleas. He loved watching space movies, anything that had a spaceship in it. And after a dozen views you’d bet he knew all the lines.”

She broke out into a wide smile, chuckling as she reminisced. “I let him sit in front of me one time. We just idled there and he’d try to reach out as far as his little arms could go to grab the handlebars. I know it was risky, but it would have broken my heart not to. He’d say, ‘Blast off, Momma!'” Emma gazed longingly at the handlebars of her bike, scrutinizing the worn grip and cracking grooves. She sighed. “That’s when I started calling him my ‘little pilot.’”

“He hasn’t been called that in a long time,” Regina murmured from faraway. Truthfully, there were times she had been tempted to use the title. She knew how his face lit up when his mother used to say it, and a part of her was envious of that ability to make him instantly happy. However, to use that title with Henry would have been a misuse of power. She had no right to take something away from Henry and Emma. She was not a replacement mother. She was just the legal guardian who called him, “Henry,” or the rare but indulgent, “sweetheart.”

Once adequately changed, Regina stepped out. She put the detached gown in the speeder’s storage compartment and wound her shawl around her bare shoulders.

“No way.” Emma made no room for argument when it came to this next piece of clothing. She procured a bulky, leather jacket with comfortable armor padding. It was light and flexible enough for a dainty woman as Regina. She handed it over with a shy smile. “Here, it’ll keep your warm and protect you from any unforeseeable precipitation.”

Regina grimaced, but accepted the gift anyway. She then thrust out her hand, waving in a ‘come hither’ motion to Emma’s raised eyebrow and stated, “Helmet.”

Emma just shook her head and climbed on. “We go nude on this baby. Trust me, it will enhance the experience.”

Regina replied emphatically, “I’m sure my experience will be doubly enhanced when our brains are splattered on duracrete.”

“You gotta learn to live on the dangerous side.”

“I thought that’s why I had you to fall onto all the land mines.”

“I love these late night conversations in dangerous back alleys.”

“I didn’t park this banana rusted junk here.” And with that Regina swung a leg over and hugged what had just seconds ago been the target of loathing between her legs. The speeder, that was. Not Emma.


	5. Chapter 5

Heavy breathing and the pungent scent of sweat infiltrated the training room. Of all the places on the ship, this was the most appropriate location to express one’s frustrations. On any other deck, and in the presence of any other superior officer, conveying repressed anger might have been grounds for suspension. In the training room it was not only acceptable but encouraged.

A smack resounded as a body met the gym mat. Regina stared up at the ceiling, blinking back tears, and suppressing the urge to arch her back in pain. It would have been doubly embarrassing considering the opponent panting and straddling her waist.

“Do you yield?”

After catching the breath that got knocked out of her, Regina repossessed her doggedness and glared lasers. “Dear, do I look defeated?”

Emma smirked. “Well, from where I’m sitting you – Whu-uhp!”

A diabolical laugh rang out through the gym. There were no spectators to applaud her move, yet Regina’s pride rose to new heights. She propped herself up with the hands now bracing Emma’s wrists. The woman was successfully pinned and with a twist of her knee Regina got a squeal out of her.

“Do you yield?” she patronized, grinning like a champion.

“Yeah, when Tume freezes over.”

“Must you always be so stubborn?” The vintage frustration crackling in Regina’s eyes was quickly replaced with something soft. She unpinned Emma’s wrists and repositioned herself so she was propped just above her. Wisps of blonde hair tickled her fingers. Emma lay splayed out and so open to her. Regina licked a bead of perspiration from her lip. “You don’t always have to be so tough. It’s not the end of the world. Studies show it is sentient to be vulnerable. You can be.”

Emma detected the lingering sentiment, ‘with me’ and felt time go still. Her heart hammered in her chest. Nothing made sense anymore, not the thrill singing through her veins, nor the hot breath on her face. How many times had she wished for this? To feel as safe as nestled between two knees and to be offered a way out? A hand was being offered as an escape from a fate of insurmountable expectation. Emma could lay out all her failures and weaknesses and know that it wouldn’t earn her reprimand. When had it gotten this easy? How had they arrived at his place?

Regina’s thumb and forefinger fingered through a lock of hair. A strand of her own hair, darkened by sweat, fluttered out of its knot. Twin breaths stirred its sway. An overwhelming sense of adoration overcame Regina as she gazed down at Emma. She wanted so much to dip down and fill her senses with Emma – everything from her sweat and heat to her courage, tenacity, snark, lunacy, everything that made Emma the woman staring up at her with wonder.

And then it happened: Regina wanted to kiss her again. It clicked like the universal law of gravity: necessary and exquisitely complex. No other urgency occupied her mind, nothing stirred her to action like a kiss… right now… on that dry, cracked mouth. She could wet it with her tongue, or her tears, anything of hers that aided in a kiss. Most of all, Regina wanted to express something in this training gym that she couldn’t on any other deck or in the company of crew.

Heart beating erratically, Regina descended with the languid pace of a thick, treacle moment.

A shock of reality triggered Emma to blink. She sucked in a breath and rolled on her side, breaking out of the hold. Emma swallowed and fought to regain that willful spirit Regina near stole with a kiss.

Staring at the vacated space, Regina sat back. She frowned and convinced herself that Emma’s cold-shoulder did not hurt. She convinced herself to high heaven, but it still stung, somewhere in the complicated depths of her heart.

“I’m impressed by your counter maneuvers,” Emma said, her attempt at lightening the mood. “You took me down twice; not bad for someone who’s been sitting behind a desk for three years.”

“Four,” Regina corrected, pithily. “Remember, I didn’t stay on long after the formal adoption was drawn up. It did not make sense for Henry to be without _either_ of his guardians. Someone had to stay.”

Therein lied the catalyst that shut down any hope of progress – forgiveness among other things. It was a fact that prevented them from moving forward in any context of their liaisons. It was hard for Regina to forget, but harder for Emma to accept.

The reminder, though inadvertent, silenced Emma and any further comments. She stared down into her hands, trying to think the best out of a bad situation. She could not.

“Hey, I thought I told you guys to wait for me!”

Emma’s and Regina’s heads snapped up simultaneously. Henry looked between them with a raise of his brow. It struck him amused how he, a lowly ten-year-old, could startle two of the galaxy’s toughest heroes.

Henry didn’t wait for them to snap out of it. He resumed the fray with a great leap and an appropriate war cry.

“Ooph! Watch it, kid. Those are my ribs, not a punching bag.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled sheepishly, and rolled off her with a dazed but content look on his face. No sooner did he right himself than he was taken down from behind.

“Gotcha.”

Henry exploded into hysterics at the sneaking fingers. Regina captured him in a bear hug around his middle and hauled him off his feet. Her impressive strength caused his eyes to widen as he discharged a “Whoa!”

Regina spun him around until they were in stiches. They tumbled to the ground, Regina on her back with Henry beside her.

A funny sensation filled Emma. It felt like a thousand stars were exploding and painting the inside of her heart with rainbows – or something queer like that. “This looks more like recreation than combat training.”

Henry snickered. Regina took it to the next level.

“Aw, look at your mother, Henry. She’s all in a pout because we left her out of the fun.”

“Don’t egg her on,” he warned, laughing despite. “She doesn’t like that.”

“Should we show her just how inclusive we are?” Regina winked, pulling him up with her and prodding him forward.

“What are you…” Emma’s narrowed eyes soon grew to epic proportions. They wouldn’t. “No… Wait, no! I’m not ready! I – argh!”

Emma hit the mat like a sack of genetically modified potatoes – _twice_ in one day. “No fair. You guys totally tag teamed me!”

“Should we have given you a memo, dear?” Regina asked with a waggle of her head.

“Whatever happened to a little decorum?”

Regina scoffed. “This coming from the woman who breaks all my rules.”

“Oh, they’re _your_ rules now? I thought they were Cosmofleet regulation.”

“As captain of this ship it is my prerogative to deal with unruly behavior however I see fit. Cosmofleet grants me power over you and every soul aboard this vessel. Don’t like it? You may disembark at your earliest convenience.” She smirked again, eyes dazzling. “I hear the airlock is a rather convenient egress.”

“Henry, she’s scaring me.” Emma’s monotone voice revealed just how frightened she was. “How did you ever live in the same house with this creature?”

“Easy,” Henry responded with a shrug, “her food is better than yours.”

“Heeey!”

“It’s true,” Regina quipped, not bothering to suppress a grin. Emma’s put upon expression did things to her she couldn’t comprehend, so damn durasteel pretenses.

“You’ve never had my cooking!”

“Correction: I have. Or don’t you remember the runny omelette you served me that morning after we met Ren?”

Emma diverted her eyes with a bashful tint to her cheeks. “That was a rare setback.”

Frankly, she could hardly pay attention to the stove when she felt Regina’s eyes burning into her back… or her ass, if she were in a fantasizing mood (which she had been).

“Still,” Henry admitted with a twisting mouth, “Regina has more variety. She makes all these meals that come from exotic worlds and places I can’t even pronounce.”

“Wow, kick me while I’m down, won’t you?”

Henry rolled his eyes in a manner he undoubtedly picked up from his adoptive parent. “Suck it up, Ma.”

Shaking off her wounds, Emma propped herself up by the heels of her hands. “So where did you learn those moves, Henry?”

“Self-defense class,” he replied. “Regina didn’t let me go for the longest time. It took _for-ever_ to convince her.”

Emma looked to the woman who seemed to have developed a case of shyness.

Regina rubbed the back of her neck. “I didn’t want you to grow up too fast,” she murmured before reaching out to comb back a strand of hair offset by their tussle.

A low whine emitted from Henry. His head veered away from her fussing, but he still stood close by and as loyal as a sentry.

Emma watched the two of them closely and thought about the coming weeks. It was imperative that she solve the vortex and eliminate any possible threat. Success rated critical because she could not imagine a galaxy wherein those two smiling faces did not exist.

* * *

Regina cracked her knuckle with a simple press of her thumb. The hand subsequently flexed before resuming another crack. She was hardly aware of the process as she sat in her captain’s chair and she wasn’t the only one.

On a rather dull day of hyperspace travel, every crewmember manned their posts with an efficiency that maintained faith in her decision to promote them. Regina didn’t have to lift a finger as these were her best senior officers – seasoned, judicious, and acclimated to her brand of expectation. It was why she could sit staring at her datapad for hours on end without interruption, and no one would know what she was thinking.

Regina found it more embarrassing than fitting that the subject occupying her mind was presently occupying the bridge. Emma never failed to draw her eye, not in a moment of infuriation and certainly not in want of her. And Regina really wanted her of late. The fact that Emma had to weave in and around her eyeline in that amazingly tailored shirt just darkened her cheeks further.

Blast, Regina thought. She forced her eyes down to the tablet in her lap as the clopping pace of boots echoed past her.

She could now think of nothing but who those strides belonged to. It was an inevitable cycle that had been going on since they broke assembly that morning. Any summit with her senior officers should have left her contemplative of the mission ahead, engrossed in preparations, and getting snippy about David’s sensor arrays. But with Emma on board there was no chance of the mundane. With Emma it was always an adventure whether Regina was briefed in advance or thrust directly on the edge of her flight chair.

Thinking back on the night Emma arrived in Misthaven left Regina in a tangled mess. An explosion of sensations came from that short-lived kiss and it had her wanting for more. She already understood why – had known for some time. Only recently had she decided to act upon her wishes. But maybe _decided_ wasn’t the precise word. Her actions nowadays were based more on instinct than premeditation. It wasn’t like she _planned_ on making a move on Emma during their sparring. But oh how she wanted to.

Hence her mind’s constant wandering back in time. It was shocking how overwhelmingly turned on a mere encounter of lips could be. In the years Emma had been away, Regina did not find herself romantically involved. She saw the bar owner, Mal Deckard, twice. The first time she asked Mal out for dinner and a drink. The second time she invited herself over to her apartment in the late hours of the night. No dinner, no drinks, very little small talk but the words “now” and “please.”

Their affair would have had a better chance of lifting off if Regina hadn’t soaked the sheets in tears. Mal didn’t know much about her, but she did know that Regina Mills was _not_ the sobbing type. Thankfully, Mal had mercy on the woman too heartsick to explain the regression. They parted amicably and hadn’t seen each other since.

From then on Regina didn’t bother. She managed her schedule around Henry’s life, not to make room for love of a partner or even a short-lived fling. It hurt too much. She couldn’t touch anyone without Emma filling her senses – her smell, the eyes that looked so longingly into hers, the pressure of her lips and how that same tenderness with which they kissed still surprised her four years later.

Regina still felt connected to Emma despite the distance. She should have felt betrayed by her abandonment, but that just wasn’t the case. She and Emma shared something beyond Henry, beyond Cosmofleet. They were attached as if her heart was tethered to Emma’s and every time it skipped a beat at the sight of some blonde woman she felt the thread pull at her, tearing a little bit each time until it could barely stay together.

Remembering the kiss in her bedroom, a moment so recent and yet so unreachable, was more a torment than anything. Some part of Regina still insisted she couldn’t have it, that it was breaking regulation. Nothing with Emma had ever been a patrol through the secure zone. Nothing about that foolish, unpredictable woman put Regina’s heart at ease – instead, making it pound at breakneck lightspeed. No amount of obstacles could cause it to skip to a halt. Regina’s will remained strong, but the separation had worn it down. She could not be forsaken again, not as Emma had the first time with her resignation or the last time, kicking up vapor in her wake.

Which left Regina with an ultimatum she’d rather not consider. Conflicting opinions of responsibility and personal freedom warred hours on end, leaving her distracted and emotional spent. To ponder a life altering choice required time that was not in Regina’s arsenal.

* * *

With a noiseless lurch, the _Storybrooke_ ground to an unscheduled halt. There were no signs of alarm but the steady winking light from Rumple’s panel.

Regina straightened in her chair and ground her teeth in anticipated reprimand. “Would someone care to explain why we have dropped out of hyperspace?”

Rumple eyes his controls warily, moving dexterous fingers to solve the dilemma. “One moment, dearie. This is _obviously_ an unforeseen stop.”

The dripping disdain elicited Regina’s eyes to shoot up. “Belle, where are we?”

“Captain, we are at 099.498.026 Oberon System.”

While their helmsman worked an explanation, the rest of the crew squinted through the forward viewport. When their eyes adjusted to the vast darkness, they found a medium-sized vessel hanging immobile.

Emma drew near the transparisteel with curiosity furrowing her brow. She folded her arms over her chest. “Looks like we have a mining transport in our midst.”

Ruby turned her head. “How can you tell?”

“Well, you don’t see light freighters all the way out here unless they’re transporting something. If you look closely at the flight deck there doesn’t seem to be much room for passengers. I’d say it seats four, five max.” Emma peered over the pockmarked hull from nose to stern. “The ship’s dimensions are suited to cargo not people. It’s outfitted with missiles and shields to deter pirates but they’re not advanced enough to skimp on payload space. Based on this freighter’s exterior specs, I’d say they’re in long range cargo hauling.”

“You can conclude all that from here?” asked Belle, impressed.

Emma shrugged. “I’ve had a lot of time on my hands. After resigning I got the chance to meet as many diverse ships as I did entities.” Her unfocused gaze continued out the viewport and stretched beyond. “And when you’ve flown from one end of this galaxy to the other like I have, you see a lot of strange things…”

Emma dragged off with an even stranger tone in her voice, one that caused the others to hold their questions back.

A surge of concern had Regina staring a bit too long for it to resemble a captain’s concern over their subordinate. It was wholly unexpected and had her blinking in puzzlement.

She had to constantly remind herself now that her duty was to the protection of all her crew, not just one individual. Emma’s disquiet had distracted her in a place of security, but what if they had been in the smoke and heat of battle where any number of stray blaster bolts could sear a hole through them? Regina shook off her private anxieties for the moment.

“Let’s focus on the principal issue here, shall we? The _Storybrooke_ has been unceremoniously tugged out of hyperspace. The blinking red light from Rumple’s panel tells me the cause lies with a distress beacon.” Regina never liked stating the obvious. She glared from one senior officer to the next before growling, “I thought we had that protocol disabled! The hyperspace override was supposed to be deactivated upon embarking on this mission. Who in blazes didn’t do their job?”

“It might have slipped my mind, Commander,” Astrid mumbled off to the side.

Normally bubbly and smiling, Astrid was Ruby’s replacement. Ruby’s promotion to first officer came after Regina’s retirement, so the returning Captain Mills hardly knew what to expect from this creature. She just stared, unimpressed, at this cowering thing of a communications officer.

Sensing the boiling anger in her captain, Astrid quickly recovered. “It’s an honest mistake. This mission was cobbled together in record time. We all didn’t get much time to prepare.” Her head tucked in as a turtle reverted into its shell and she smiled tentatively. “There was bound to be oversight.”

“I demand perfection, Lieutenant! Just how did you get assigned to my ship? Or have you not passed your exams?”

Horrified, Astrid’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. “Oh, no, Commander. I mean, _yes_ , Commander.”

Regina sighed, pressing her temples for relief. “Must I remind you all of our obligation? Our calling is higher to that of a mere distress signal. There are obstacles ahead of us, obstacles that require a sensitive touch and we cannot be distracted by a bunch of amateurs who don’t know their way around a navi-computer!”

“Maybe we should all calm down.” Emma’s steady approach towards the center of the bridge clearly evidenced whom the suggestion was meant for. “Let’s just reserve judgment until we have all the facts.”

Regina’s head snapped around to glower at Emma. Damn her, she thought. If Emma wanted to gaze out the viewport and daydream herself into a coma, fine. Regina would rather be marooned on a Quarthos sea than allow Emma to placate her out of the captain’s chair. They had been down this road before and Regina had no intention of reliving another mutiny.

The glare stopped Emma in her tracks. Her head echoed with a salty curse picked up from Killian Jones.

“The freighter is broadcasting a message,” Astrid said slowly, breaking up the clear and present tension. She touched the comm piece at her ear. “It’s playing on a loop.”

“Patch it through.”

Regina, Emma, David, and Ruby surrounded the transmission table. The grid glowed blue and just as soon as the transmission began, threads pulsed like a three dimensional spectrogram.

The frequency crackled and rose to an ear-splitting screech. There came an outcry of discomfort as the crew cupped their ears over the noise.

“ _Sorry_ ,” Astrid mumbled with an apologetic smile. She turned from the glares and dialed down the pitch.

The strings of blue illuminating the table jumped in sync with the sound. But what they anticipated as speech came in the form of beeps. The more they tuned their ears to the sound the clearer a pattern they deciphered in the staccato tones.

David frowned. “I don’t get it. Why use code?”

“Were you always this dense?” Regina droned. “Or is this a consequence of my retirement?”

Emma drew her gaze from the SOS. “Their communications must have sustained damage. Could have been due to a recent attack.” She turned to the woman at her side. “Ruby?”

“It’s a wise assumption. Pirate skirmishes have become more prominent in this sector. My previous assignment focused near the Reach sector, so I should know.”

“Is that disappointment I hear?” Regina asked, smirking at the girl’s expense. “Don’t tell me you miss dear old Captain Finnegan already.”

Ruby snorted. “Emphasis on _old_. And no, I’m not disappointed to have been transferred from my post. That commission made patrols in the Reach seem like Sunday with Granny’s coven of knitters. At this juncture, my enthusiasm has increased astronomically.” She inclined her head in wordless gratitude.

Regina nodded back. Ruby’s recent work in the Outer Reach was Regina’s official motive for bringing her on. She could not very well broadcast her faith in Ruby’s sharp instincts or the amusing way about her that Regina’s command had adapted to in those days. Despite having to uphold her station during this mission, it was good to be amongst friends.

Friends, Regina thought. She found herself shocked by the fondness these people instilled in her. Serving aboard the _Storybrooke_ had changed her in ways she couldn’t explain. Those years molded her psyche and fashioned a better opinion of humanoids in general. If only her mother could see her now – rubbing elbows with subordinates and sacrificing her mayoral seat in order to safeguard the galaxy. Cora would turn in her grave if she knew her daughter was raising a ten-year-old and pining after his mother to boot.

“The dispatch mentions a crippled hyperdrive,” Emma said, continuing to play back the code as if it held added substance. The grid consumed so much of her focus she hadn’t really been talking to anyone. Just thinking out loud. “These freighters don’t take much manpower. It should be an easy fix.”

Regina’s head whipped around. “What?” Her eyes were wide, the breath knocked out of her with little warning.

“I can get in and out of there within a few hours. If there are complications we’ll send for fleet support and be on our way.”

“Absolutely not. I forbid it.”

Emma’s head rose as if distracted. She quirked her brow. “If it’s a matter of whether I’m capable of fixing their engine I don’t think –“

“It’s not,” Regina claimed firmly. She tilted her head as her expression changed to that of a softness no one but Emma had expected. “I am not just thinking of our mission. I am thinking of everyone here. My concern is for our people, not the miners on that vessel.” Though it would hurt to say it, Regina gathered what courage she had left to harden her voice. “I will not be able to spare the personnel; we are already low staffed. In these rarest of circumstances, I cannot order my crew to accompany you.”

“And I’m not asking you to.”

“You might be putting yourself in immediate danger with no chance of backup. From where I’m standing that freighter only has one dock.”

Emma smirked. “When have the odds ever stopped me?”

At this point, it occurred to Regina that there would be no changing her mind. Emma was as stubborn and foolhardy as every before. She spent sleepless nights wondering how Emma had changed, if she was still that same reckless woman Regina fell for and whether she would possess the same feelings for a new and improved Emma Swan. All those nights wondering herself into oblivion and not once had it occurred to her that Emma might grow up and still retain some of that smug idiocy.

Looking away, Regina shook her head muttering, “Some things never change.”

“Some things do.”

The words were spoken with a tenderness that caressed Regina’s bravery. With those simple words Emma encouraged Regina’s chin to rise and her eyes to blink. One blink and all the severity melted away to adoration.

Emma’s heart soared, as did her smile. She couldn’t have known then, but behind those eyes Regina had once imagined a dismal fate where Henry never sought out his mother and that kiss in the bedroom didn’t happen.

If this was Captain Mills staring back at her, Emma would be awaiting the inevitable paperwork not a shuttle trip. If this was Captain Mills talking to her, she would be preparing for a dull night in with some long-winded ops report.

But this wasn’t Captain Mills, this was _Regina_. It was perhaps _because_ of their connection that she was allowing Emma to go. And that connection, that woman staring back at her with all due trust and equal parts terror nearly had Emma jetting out of there. But it was different this time, it felt stronger and well worth the argument. It tethered her to a certainty that had her heart racing.

David cleared his throat.

They snapped out of the moment to find their senior officers in various stages of embarrassment, some forcing their eyes to the ceiling and others staring unabashedly.

Ruby winked, twisting her body to and fro merrily. “Right on.”

The face of Astrid looked about ready to crack in half. Her smile spread from cheek to cheek while she clapped her hands privately. “Magical!” she squeaked.

“Captain,” David spoke up, gingerly rubbing his chin between two fingers, “might we give Emma leave to prepare? Time is of the essence, as you said.”

“Of course that is what I said!” Regina barked. She whirled with a sharp turn. Silent as a vacuum, she sat with her inflamed cheek in her hand and began logistics on her datapad.

It was telling what humans could betray with their eyes, especially when it came to two humans such as Emma and Regina. The others couldn’t know if their captain was feeling shame for publicly expressing her undying affection for Emma or heart wrenching concern that she might never be able to do so again.

Only Emma could know and she was hell bent on making sure it didn’t come true.

* * *

The aqua blue light from her glow stick skittered around Emma as she tripped for the third time. She had been cloaked in darkness since the moment she boarded. On her first stumble, Ruby jokingly pointed out to watch her step. On the second, Emma laughed it off. By her third misstep, she was getting irritated and Regina just had to get snippy.

_“If you’re doing this on purpose, I swear I’ll have you court marshaled.”_

“Oh, I see how it is. We’ve graduated from air lock termination to threats of court marshal, huh?”

_“I don’t know what else will sink into that thick skull of yours. I know how skittish you are in front of an audience. Perhaps a formal inquiry before the Council will knock the wind out of your sails.”_

Emma snorted. “And by sails you mean my ego.”

_“Take it however you wish.”_

She chuckled loud enough for her captain to hear. If Regina was trying to intimidate her, get a rise out of her, or any number of tactics to make her come back to the ship… Well, Emma didn’t scare easily. She wouldn’t give Regina the satisfaction.

They had concluded from the lack of light that the mining crew was running on limited reserves. The ship must have sustained heavy damage enough to knock out most of its power, leaving their hero stumbling through the dark with nothing but a glow stick and spotty comms.

Emma was actually surprised to find herself on the immobilized trade ship. She thought Regina might assert her usual brass and sass, keeping Emma on the bridge where she could see her. She didn’t mind Regina keeping tabs on her; she knew now that it was done out of her own well-being. She’d allow no one else the right. But how on blasted Earth did she end up aboard a foreign craft and not behind Regina’s dog gate?

Emma had a litany of rationales in her arsenal but it turned out she didn’t have to resort to them. She fully expected Regina to put up a fight and had a few rebuttals at her disposal:

“I am well aware of the risks, and I’ve already accepted our responsibilities. You don’t have to brief me.”

Or, “I wouldn’t jeopardize our mission just to have a good time.”

And the ever brash, “Can’t you just trust me?”

They would not be so promising a defense if Emma had not spent the amount of time she had around someone as argumentative as Regina Mills. She learned more from her than she cared to admit.

In the beginning it proved irritating to go toe-to-toe with Regina, but in time Emma found it rather amusing. Her ego received a boost every time she got a rise out of Regina. The dose of adrenaline she felt stomping on the heels of a flustered retreat was as addictive as illicit vapor. And when she whirled around to reveal those blazing brown irises Emma couldn’t keep her heart rate in check. She just couldn’t because the academy didn’t train her for this. They trained you for combat, zero-g, and a multitude of deep space scenarios, but not once had they prepared Emma to fall for her commander.

It was worse than head over heels. Every time Regina made her proud to be her friend Emma would put on a mask of indifference but inside she was falling flat on her face. Really, she knew she had some awkward tendencies in the physical realm but mentally? She was as oafish as wandering space debris.

There truly was no better opponent she would rather match her wits against. She’d guess no one had gotten this close to the hard as nails captain and live to throw recriminations right back. The fact that Regina hadn’t seen fit to clock her for being the equivalent of a duckling with two left feet spoke of how far they’d come. When Emma blundered or fumbled or broke some super special rule, Regina just scowled, completely ignorant of the grin showing through.

A flicker came from her glow stick. She gave it a shake until it brightened to full intensity. A few paces later and it lost power completely.

“Vaporize me.”

Taking a brief pause, Emma shrugged off her pack. Inside held a spare glow stick, high voltage resistant gloves, a spanner, and other mechanics’ tools. She took the glow stick and cracked it to life. A thought struck her as she scrutinized the rough floor she’d been trekking across. Shrugging, she took the gloves as well. If this ship was going to make her footing problematic, the least she could do was protect her hands.

Taking a deep breath, Emma considered how long she’d have to endure these lonely decks before she came across some life. A bead of sweat trickling from her hairline and she wiped it back. It was hot as a brown dwarf star in there.

Time pressed her to ignore discomfort. Emma pulled on her gloves, brandished her glow stick, and navigated the decks in style.

* * *

The halt of scuffing boots signaled Emma’s pause. If Regina closed her eyes she could imagine the woman, blonde hair tied back and a glint of adventure in her eyes. But now her awkward clomps had stopped, her shoulders were falling, and a pout played out across her face. Regina nearly felt relieved enough to smile at her antics.

“ _Regina_ ,” came the sigh, “ _a small detour never hurt anyone. The sooner you quit berating me the sooner I can leave. Honestly, I’m starting to get secondhand worry here._ ”

“Worried? Excellent, dear. Now turn around and come back to the ship.”

Regina’s eyes danced madly over the holotable. Where it usually held detailed schematics, the surface revealed nothing but empty space. She had no clue where Emma was located on that ship. They had nothing to go on but Emma’s intuition.

What concerned Regina most was the lack of resources at Emma’s disposal. With the auxiliary power rerouted to life support systems, she navigated the decks by the light of her glow stick. She wouldn’t be able to distinguish the cargo hold from the shuttle bay. She knew about as much as the _Storybrooke_.

Regina shook her head, feeling a prickling sensation at the back of her neck. “I don’t like this.”

David shifted beside her. “Maybe the captain’s right, Emma. The crew must be expecting you. They would have shown up by now.” He bit his lip and gripped the table hard. “I have a bad feeling….”

“ _David, if I had a credit for every time you say – KSHHHHHHH._ ”

The radio hissed and sputtered until it cut out completely. Silence reigned on the bridge.

“Commander Swan,” Regina called. If anything, the title would spark some irritation from Emma. She hated the promotion as much as the medal gathering dust back on Earth.

No answer in return – sarcastic or otherwise. She looked up from the transmission table towards the forward viewport. The mining ship remained as still and quiet as before.

“Commander?” she tried again, fighting the concern from her voice. Regina swallowed hard. “ _Emma_.”

The senior officers began to succumb to worry. Squeaking boots and swiveling chairs and the _tap-tap-tapp_ ing of a nail biting habit brought nothing more than ill thoughts to mind. What had befallen their brave, young commander?

Astrid removed the tip of her thumb to speak. “Is it a bad transmission?”

“You are the communications expert,” Regina replied, anger just barely breaking the surface. “Figure. It. Out.”

“The odds that this is just electromagnetic –“

“I don’t care for probability, David. The only thing between Commander Swan and us are facts. Get me a logical explanation or find yourself dismissed.”

“We’re getting interference, Captain.” Astrid swiveled away from her station and met Regina’s eyes. It dawned on them instantly. “I don’t understand. They’re jamming our frequency?”

Just as the words left her mouth, the unidentified vessel came to life. It slowly rotated away from the _Storybrooke_ , assuming an escape route.

Regina’s vision clouded at the edges. Light-headed and nauseous, she reached out for the back of her chair. Emma was on that ship. She had spoken to her not five minutes ago. Regina’s hand flew to her nauseated stomach. This could not be happening.

“Seven hells!” David shouted wildly. “They’ve tricked us!”

Rumple rolled his eyes. “You don’t say?”

Snapping back to reality, Regina closed her eyes and breathed in slowly through her nose. “ _Enough_.” When she felt all eyes on her she turned to her right. “Ruby, remove that bubbly fool from her post and get a lock on that craft.”

“I’m not communications anymore, Captain. That’s Astrid’s job now and if you gave her a chance you’d see she’s fit for the position.”

“I don’t have time to debate my officers’ credentials!” Regina snapped and with that she plowed between them. She punched buttons, dials, levers, and acquired a connection in record time.

The crew’s eyes widened. They’d seen their captain’s frustration, but never had she disregarded them completely. She just batted them aside like flies as if she could man every post herself. Everyone knew _one_ person – no matter the rank or expertise – couldn’t run a ship like the _Storybrooke_. It was humanoidly impossible.

“ _There_.” Regina punctuated her remark with a slap to the engage button.

Ruby and Astrid received a glare in passing. They could feel the flames of wrath licking at their skin. Gritting her teeth, Ruby had half a mind to put Regina in her place. She didn’t take to irrational command these days. She’d had about enough of this woman’s surly attitude. Regina wasn’t the only one here who cared about Emma.

“I could have easily followed through on your request, Captain.” Ruby clenched her hands from behind her back, restraining the urge to assert them around a neck. “If you would just dial back on the –“

“I don’t need your insolence.” Regina’s hands formed fists, categorizing her behavior as pure vitriol. “Captain Finnegan may have put up with your backbone but I won’t. Not when we are on the vibroknife edge of an interspecies incident. Not when we are microns from being one crewman short. Do you concur, First Officer Lucas?”

Ruby bristled but kept herself in line. She may be bold but she wasn’t stupid. No one crossed vibroknives with Regina unless they had a death wish or they were Emma. Not the least of which, arguing amongst themselves would do their mutual friend no good.

Regina reared her head forward. A smug expression played out on her face in narrowed eyes and a half grin. She nodded. “I thought so.”

“Captain,” Rumple called, gripping the helm with both hands. He had been tuning out the humans’ bickering to clock the subtle calculations in the enemy’s movement. His turmeric-colored eyes held the fleeing spacecraft like his life depended on it. Within seconds it shot off into the void, leaving a trail of effervescent plasma in its wake.

“Captain,” he droned in a bored tone, “I hate to interrupt but the enemy is fleeing.”

“Follow them!”

Ruby crossed her arms roughly and demanded, “To where?”

A few bleeps later and Belle had the answer flashing on her navi-computer. She frowned at the coordinates, mouth opening and closing. “I, uh…” She turned over her shoulder and pointed at the screen.

With a roll of her eyes, Regina stalked forward. The computer was flashing its harmless numbers but when she peered closer they bathed her stark white face in dread.

She draped a hand over her fastened eyes and muttered, “ _Blast_.”

Regina’s cruelty towards Ruby cost them precious seconds. Only time would tell if she had cost Emma her life.

* * *

When Emma finally opened her eyes a thousand lights blinded her. That was not to say they were bright. The lights were, in fact, soft and fuzzy around the edges – no defined shape – but the sheer number obscured Emma’s vision nearly completely.

She blinked several times to shake the drowsy. It helped clear some of the fog, but not the odious smell of burning candles and antiseptic.

Candles?

I’m a blasted sacrificial lamb, Emma thought. Dread overcame her and followed by a surge of vengeance. Steeling herself, she used her other senses to fill in the blanks.

Her cell, as she came to accept it, was fortified by rock and sealed by a durasteel gate. The vermillion dust, so similar to that of Sol Sector’s Mars, was caked in every crevice including Emma’s nose and ears.

She wrinkled her nose against the itch.

Emma figured she lay on a stone slab. The jagged surface under her poked at various points in her back, but she could not alleviate the pressure. Emma cried out when she moved her arms. A metallic jingle accompanied her motions. She pried her eyes back open to find her wrists chained and her arms stretched out from her body. Her ankles were restrained in similar fashion.

“What in seven hells?”

It was rhetorical. She didn’t expect anyone to answer. Being alone, restrained, and now finding her vision blurry, Emma just wanted to hear the sound of her own voice, if only to make her feel less lonely.

But someone did answer.

A voice so deep it could have passed for guttural echoed from the darkness. “Not so confident now are we?”

Emma craned her neck carefully to identify her captor. One look was all it took.

“I’m on Nal Korobi?” she echoed out loud. She frowned in puzzlement.

He tipped his bald, oblong head. “We meet again, Emma Swan.”

Suddenly, it all made sense. The distress signal had come from a mining vessel. It had pulled the _Storybrooke_ out of hyperspace just outside Commonwealth jurisdiction. Oberon System… Nal Korobi… the civil war between miners and monks… Emma’s heart sank like a stone. No way had they fallen for the same trap twice.

When it finally sunk in, she zeroed in on her abductor.

The chalk white face appeared more aged with wrinkles than the last time they had met. His molten onyx eyes bore deep within hers, eliciting a shudder. Everything about his appearance spoke of death: the pale pigment of skin that rarely bathed in sunlight, the soulless eyes, and the dry, cracked lips.

His wardrobe had changed as well. He wore body armor over the burgundy robes and a belt around his waist. The blaster attached to his hip looked every bit out of place than the armor. Upon their last run in, Emma and her crew discovered that the Korobians were not as monastic as the history books told. Spurred by an enterprising rogue and his Hunter tribe, the Brothers had overcome their aversion to technology and adapted to the 23rd century.

“Loppak.” It didn’t reach the growling retort she’d hoped for, but her glare got the message across. “Still leading those motley crew of Hunters? They never did take well to Cosmofleet torpedoes.”

Loppak, founder of the Korobi Coalition, just stared. “Still the unruly child, I see.”

“You’re wrong. Come over here and see how much.” She yanked on her restraints for effect and winced.

“Careful. A spoiled vessel does us no good.”

A figure entered. It was another Korobian of similar dress sans armor. He made his silent way to one of the tables adorned with candles. This table, however, contained an added assortment of glittering items. Emma struggled to peer around the robed Korobian but he blocked her view.

She tried to get his attention by knocking her shackles against the stone. He didn’t so much as glance at her. She was of no consequence to him. Yet.

“What do you want?” Emma asked.

Loppak clasped his hands in front of him. The move was so human it revolted her. “Why should I be so forthcoming?”

“If you’re going to kill me, you might as well spill it.”

Loppak chuckled, another characteristic that sickened Emma. “Not much has changed since last we spoke. Nal Korobi has ceased its strife, yet the conditions in which we live prevent our continued existence. Our female Brothers perish in childbirth despite our attempts to modernize. We are for all intents and purposes on the edge of extinction.”

His chest hitched but gave no other sign of pause. Loppak embodied the strength of his people not in the physical sense but the mental. He possessed an intellectual prowess never before known in Korobians. The outside galaxy that shunned their primitive civilization had no knowledge of their new claim on technology. Emma had a feeling they would become aware very soon.

“Monastic Brothers and Hunters,” Loppak continued, “unite in one common goal: survival. We adopted the ways of outsiders as a means to protect our species. But success will not be without consequence. Our very genetic makeup will succumb to certain changes, within and without. The inevitable result from interspecies mixing.”

Bowing his head down, Loppak began a meandering pace. He circled Emma, the sound of his padding feet and walking stick jarring her senses. She was starting to feel a strange separation from her body.

“Last time we spoke I offered you and your crew freedom in return for payment. Unfortunately, I could not acquire your commander the first time, nor the second. Despite this failure, I feel that our cause has promise in the alternative.”

Emma’s stomach twisted. “Me.”

Loppak gave one long nod, chin to chest, before reconnecting their gazes. His liquid eyes held hers knowingly. It was hardly sympathy, more akin to eagerness.

Her muscles seized in alarm. She took in her surroundings with widened eyes – her restraints, the polished instruments, the armorless Korobian who was now dipping his hands into a watery basin… The pieces fell into place.

“Oh, blast. You can’t do this!”

“I’m afraid I can,” he committed slowly, “now that we have the technology… and the specimen to do so.” His hand gestured to his Brother who approached Emma. In his hand he prepared a syringe filled with a clear solution.

Emma jerked back but the restraints prevented her. They kept her immobile and defenseless as that sacrificial lamb she feared of becoming. Now that her fear was actualized, her throat closed involuntarily. She choked over her own scream, unable to voice her terror.

The needle pierced her skin. Emma hadn’t time to wince. She watched, helpless, as the syringe plunged its contents into her bloodstream. The Korobian came and went. A pinch and that was that. A sinking feeling told Emma this was just the beginning.

Not a moment sooner, her vision narrowed and then widened convulsively. She swallowed, mouth parched, tongue beginning to thicken. She was losing control over her reflexes, her mind induced into a muck-like consciousness. Everything seemed slower, thicker, and dry as the Tume desert.

“The fuck are you doing to me?” she croaked, head lolling to the side.

“What is necessary.” His voice carried from the corner. He sounded a step further away. “Accelerating the evolutionary process so to speak.”

“You can’t play god.”

“Says the human playing at space wars. Do you even know what your weapons do? You watch from the heavens as you rain death upon your enemies. We use technology for cultural progression, the furthering of our race. This is practical wisdom at its finest.”

“You don’t even know what you have. This technology… it’s only been in your possession for a few years. You have no idea what the consequences are. You could be damning your people to disease, infertility…”

“It is our salvation!” snapped Loppak. He surged forward, stick clacking the stone floor. “And I will see it through!”

“ _Please_ …” Hot tears spewed from Emma’s eyes. Her body wrenched from head to toe as if in premature rejection to the procedure awaiting her. “ _Please, don’t do this._ ”

When finally her eyes sprang open she searched for signs. She had already begged for kindness. If Loppak had any shred of humanity, no matter how conflicting to Korbi culture, she’d forget retribution.

He breathed shallowly, like every breath would be his last. The staff at his side could have been construed as a weapon if it were not for the way it carried his weight. The muscles under his thin white skin convulsed as he gripped the stick. The realization hit Emma like a thunderbolt. He was _dying_.

A hail and hearty captor was something to fear, but this Korobian looked anything but. It should have put her at ease. It should have given her the courage to escape. And yet doubt festered in Emma’s mind. A dying man was an illusion. A dying man was only as powerful as his will to live.

This Korobian may have been the most powerful sentient Emma had encountered. Never before had she faced someone so intent on survival, not just for himself but for his entire race. Loppak fought for life, not death. This was not just survival of the fittest. This was survival of the most driven and it was historically proven to have no match.

Even the slightest chance of success was like a shot of adrenaline. That’s what kept him alive. That’s why Emma was there. Her purpose was an exchange of sorts: her life for an entire species.

Emma closed her eyes and held back a whimper. For perhaps the first time in her life she felt true terror. It turned her blood to ice, the thought of her womb carrying the likes of these monsters. If Emma had a vibroknife she’d end it all right there. The only memory of childbirth she wished to remember was that of Henry. She’d gladly relive the pain, screams, and blood of that delivery, but not this, not a mutation.

Gods, she thought. Helpless, her cheek sagged against the stone. Where was Regina?


	6. Chapter 6

It took a matter of minutes to assemble an away team. The term “rescue” was not to be used under any circumstances. It hit too close to a reality wherein Emma’s life hung in the balance. And yet that stark reality cropped up on Regina more times than she could count since their shuttle left _Storybrook’s_ hanger.

Newly promoted Lieutenant Junior Grade Claude Raines steered their shuttle into Nal Korobi’s atmosphere. He and David shielded their eyes from the glaring twin suns breaking over the horizon. Regina, however, did not turn away. She squeezed her eyes shut, but took the brunt of the planet’s hot solar rays. Better to feel the heat than the cold vice around her heart.

The shuttle jarred violently as it rode the turbulent winds. Regina’s knuckles turned white as she gripped her armrests and fought the urge to vomit. So much about this situation made her nauseous. This did not even enter within a parsec of a routine assignment. Because if Regina were to actually admit that this mission’s purpose revolved around saving Emma’s life, she wouldn’t be able to succeed.

For all intents and purposes she was an emotionally compromised woman, a commander in love with her subordinate. That spelled complicated in any language. Her personal stake in the outcome would make it near impossible to carry out the mission.

David made a point of it as they were packing up the shuttle.

“It’s not too late to back out. You can coordinate operations just as effectively from the bridge. I’m sure the crew won’t mind.”

“You thick-skulled imbecile.” The duffle of provisions dropped short of the shuttle’s ingress. With a gruff sigh, Regina put her hands on her hips. “Of course they mind. Why? Because I’m still their ‘Evil Queen.’ They’d rather see me impaled by Korobi stick than stay onboard another microsecond.”

“The crew is here on voluntary conditions. You know that.”

“Why are you goading me into staying behind? Is it because you do not trust me? Because if it is –“

“After everything we’ve been through, you know better than to ask me that,” David said tightly. “I kept your secret when Command questioned us about Xelphi Six. I abandoned our ship to search for you when the Raider’s took you hostage. I put my career on the line, Regina. It’s _because_ I trust you that I’m second-guessing your judgment. I know you, Regina. Better than Claude and sure as seven hells better than Cosmofleet.”

Regina grit her teeth. “What are you saying?”

David appeared motionless save for the subtle tip of his head in sympathy. “No one would think any less of you.”

Biting the inside of her cheek, Regina looked away. “ _I_ would,” she held softly. “And so would Henry.”

It’s what David hadn’t said that turned the wheels in Regina’s head.

The concern he’d meant to express but failed to because of his captain’s surly temper was detected. He knew she was more liable to endanger their lives than help their cause. Even if Regina did not possess master powers of perception, David was still as obvious as transparisteel.

And there they were, boots dusted with red earth and disguised as Korobians, waltzing into the lion’s den like they had a strategy. The critical nature of their mission occurred to them the second they knocked out the tunnel guards. It took a barehanded brawl on Claude’s part, some agile moves from David, and a few quick pulls from Regina’s blaster to cripple the three Korobians. By then it was too late to turn back.

But it would take more then threadbare robes and staffs to pass themselves off as natives. Claude and David had their height going for them, leaving Regina a bit short for a Korobian. Not one of them came up with a solution. Instead they would improvise when the occasion called for it. Claude and David agreed only because their captain was such a master at unscripted deception.

“Has any human done this before?” Claude asked as they strode deeper into the temple. “Pass themselves off as a Korobian?”

“Maybe during the Halloween season,” David replied with a shrug. Claude gave him questioning look. “Old World tradition back home,” he explained. “Kids dress up in costume and travel from house to house asking for candy.”

Claude snorted. “How do you know if they’re actually in costume or if they’re just asking for a hand out? There are some awfully strange looking creatures around the galaxy.”

“Well, it’s a dead tradition. Back then the norm didn’t include webbed feet, scales, or any other foreign features. I only know about it because my grandfather told me stories.”

Regina’s footsteps halted up ahead. “Enough chit chat. Someone will hear us.”

Claude dipped his head as David abided with a “Yes, Commander.”

No sooner had he finished than there was a sharp cracking sound.

Regina froze, holding up a hand to signal them to halt and put their backs to the wall. The racket continued at a slow, steady pace.

_Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack._

A chill slithered up Claude’s spine. “What is that?”

David strained to get an idea. “Sounds like a ritual or something. I don’t hear footsteps.”

The mention of “ritual” had Regina’s heart beat faster. What if it had something to do with Emma? Could she still be alive? Have they taken her to be made some gruesome example? Does that explain the eerie, ritualistic drumming?

“Captain?”

Regina jerked out of her racing thought process. Worrying over nightmarish possibilities would not help them. She had to be emotionally sober and mentally sharp if she were to break Emma out unseen.

“We will ascertain the noise by blending in,” she said. “If this is a ritual, as you say, that means their will be fewer guards elsewhere and we can proceed unnoticed.” She caught their stares and forthwith scolded them with an inclined head. “This is not the time to question me. Raise your cowls and do not let your faces be seen.”

David and Claude exchanged a glance before following her lead. At this point, they didn’t know whether to be worried or impressed by their captain’s gutsy plan.

* * *

Emma had no sense of how much time had passed. Her wrist chrono had been taken from her along with her comlink and sidearm. There wasn’t even a way of telling the time of day, being some miles below the surface of a planet the received constant sunlight. The toll of being chained down and experimented on left her physically and emotionally drained. She could conclude very little in her current state, which pretty much left her screwed.

Emma regretted waking the minute the sedative wore off. She’d seen enough to knock herself out if she ever got free of those restraints. When the fuzziness wore off and her tongue didn’t feel like an enormous cotton ball, she found herself in the company of the mute Korobian. Loppak was nowhere in sight.

The doctor (if one could call him that) had probed her with his tools, showing no mercy in making Emma feel the cold durasteel against her skin. He had not been invasive, much to her relief, but he had drawn a great deal of blood. It was more than a sample amount if the dizzy spells were anything to go by. If he intended to test her readiness to conceive, he would only require a vial full, but this Korobian probably knew less about the science of fertility than Emma did.

Emma only hoped he lived up to his shitty reputation. She’d rather he make that stone slab her deathbed than her delivery bed.

The thought sickened her, being examined like some specimen, but when he did finish he turned his back and left as silently as he came. Emma was alone in her cell with nothing but thoughts of her impending doom. And regrets, so many regrets.

Emma had plenty of time to contemplate: why she left Regina four years ago and how she could have stayed away for so long. It had become clear to her during the time spent away, but she didn’t put two and two together until now. Her present situation certainly put things in perspective.

She now had a better understanding of her decision-making paradigm. Recklessness and a leap-before-looking mentality were traits no doubt seen in many successful officer’s repertoire, however, they _should_ be used in moderation. They were not so much a hindrance as they were a compliment to the strengths of restraint, patience, and wisdom.

Regina had been right when she accused her of being infatuated. Emma had been childish and arrogant with her feelings. The last thing she wanted was to disappoint her idol and captain. And it wasn’t all about being better for Regina, but for herself and her son. The decision to resign her post and leave her friends and son behind was the hardest she ever had to make, but that didn’t compare to how she left things with Regina. Emma let her go along with the curious potential their feelings craved. Nothing else felt so final, so hopeless.

She had no destination in mind, but her goal was to lose herself and find herself at the same time. This was why she loved flying; she could go anywhere, any distance, at any given time. Through aimless wanderings after an intangible feeling of acceptance and identity, Emma had been a wreck. It wasn’t until after the first year away from Henry that she began trying to acquire the courage to reclaim him. When she finally did it was like _she_ made sense again. Her reunion with Henry was as bittersweet as it was with Regina.

Emma took stock of her predicament for a moment before sinking back into her thoughts. She could not accept the reality of her confinement and what was in store for her. It was just too much. Sighing, she took relief in the solitude her cell provided and remembered with fondness the one kiss bestowed on her after years deprived of any.

Clean, crisp linens… the womanly fragrance under a day’s worth of hard work… a grip that would just not let go, not without some certainty of what in seven hells they were doing to each other…

Emma trembled at the memory of Regina’s mouth on hers, not once, not twice, but three times. How many nights had she travelled back to that moment in the turbolift and that unexpected display of tenderness before she turned her back on it? How many lonely nights with the ghost of Regina’s lips on hers? Since they parted that day in _Storybrooke’s_ hanger, it was all she could think about. It had been cruel to leave Regina with possibility and no proof of certainty. Four years Regina waited for Emma to reclaim her son and come back to them, but she wasn’t the only one. Four years Emma had waited for Regina. Four years she had not touched anyone, sacrificed her skin for someone, or loved any soul but Regina’s. She yearned so long with the belief that she might never be what Regina needed.

It all begged the question of why Regina would wait. Nothing had occurred between them but a singular kiss and an unrequited love confession. They made no pact, no promise. They exchanged no vows or rings – symbolic or otherwise. They hardly had time to understand the connection between them or what they meant to each other.

But now Emma was held captive in this hell with no hope of rescue and she couldn’t stop wondering. Little remained of her after the Korobian’s probing and Loppak’s display of confidence. Emma had been hollowed out, scrapped at the edges until the last dregs of optimism had been scooped out. And yet after all that, she had one last hope. It couldn’t be helped. The belief was so ingrained in her being it couldn’t be removed by any temporal power. No vibroscalpel could extract the belief that Regina, her captain, the great pilgrim of the stars and scourge of disorder, would ever give up on _her_.

Emma wanted to throw in the towel just due to the sheer indignity she had been subjected to, but she couldn’t, not when Regina had kissed her twice and raised her son and looked at her like she resembled an astral singularity.

Her train of thought became interrupted by the scream of durasteel. The cell door was wrenched open and in came the doctor.

“Or mad scientist,” Emma muttered out loud.

The Korobian’s head rose. Emma blinked. This had been the first successful attempt to gain his attention. Well, if mocking got a rise out of him…

“You don’t by any chance speak English do you? Oh, of course you don’t. Excuse my barbaric ways. I’m so closed-minded.”

He gripped his stick and took a step forward, baring his teeth. Even if he didn’t understand her language, her glaring sarcasm and rolling eyes would get the point across.

“No, you wouldn’t know anything about that. Barbarity, that is. No clue what with your exploratory probing and knock’em out hospitality. Nope. You guys win humanitarian of the year.”

The spittle resulting from his growl landed on Emma’s cheek and she had to contain the urge to turn away. She rattled the lion’s cage all right.

At the back of her mind she could hear Regina’s contribution of “What in blazes are you thinking? Has the sedative left your _brain_ numb as well?” By all rights she deserved the reprimand, but she would accept it with open arms and a dopey smile if it meant seeing Regina again.

By this point Emma had heckled the Korobian till he stood just a pace from her side. It was almost within reach…

“Hey, you see your mother lately? Cause I hear she glanced at the wrong side of a solar flare. Dreadful sunburn.”

One growling retort later and… bingo.

In the literal and symbolic sense, a Korobian’s staff stood as tall and resolute as his next Brother. This Korobian owned a staff that reached his exact height, more than tall enough for Emma to send it smacking into his face.

He grunted and stumbled back from the blow. Before dropping the staff, she used the end in snatching up the ring of keys. Once released from her bonds she stood over the disoriented Korobian.

Coughing on inky black blood, the Korobian glared up at her. “ _Sorjat!_ ” he spat.

Red-hot anger simmered in Emma and threatened to spill over. Clenching her hands at her sides, she let all her menace shine through. “ _This_ sorjat just conned your pitiful ass,” she hissed and threw her boot into his scowl. The sound of his neck snapping was so satisfying Emma nearly laughed.

Quickly, she retrieved her comlink from the side table and fled without looking back. She couldn’t bear to give a second’s glance at how close she’d come to being their vile guinea pig. Emma barely had time to stem the tears bleeding from her eyes. Danger was so present around her she couldn’t see two feet in front of her. But like all half-baked escape plans, it was out of the frying pan and into the fire with her.

* * *

When they reached the torch lit tunnel, they knew they were getting close (if the chanting voices had not given it away). Low droning in the Korobians native language reached their ears and none of them knew what to make of it. Not even Regina, who was fluent in Korobi.

The sharp strikes heard earlier resonated through the long, winding corridors. David and Claude led the way as a means of keeping Regina out of sight. Her short, humanoid stature would most certainly give them away, but they soon realized she would not be able to see much anyway.

By the time they reached the chamber there were red robed figures everywhere. Tall Brothers, male and female alike, crowded shoulder-to-shoulder in the circular room. Their cowls were raised, concealing their faces. They were hunched as if praying in reverence and beat their staffs into the ground. Resonating clacks sounded as they struck simultaneously at a steady rate. It was all so precise and unnerving.

“I guess that explains the weird noise,” Claude remarked with a nod. “Most definitely a ritual of some kind.”

“Lieutenant Raines, would you care to scout the area?”

His eyes widened. The look he got made the order unmistakably compulsory despite her airy tone. “Uh…”

Regina cocked her head and fashioned an impish smirk. “Of the three of us, you expressed the _most_ interest. I insist you do the investigating.”

A wave of trepidation neither Regina nor David had seen in the man passed over his face. Claude had always been a loyal officer and standup guy. His brutal fighting tactics were an advantage, as was his unwillingness to back down. The reluctance Claude was presently showing no doubt shocked his crew members.

“Look, I’m grateful that you selected me for this mission. I can and will lend my assistance and use what I’ve learned from our last assignment on Nal Korobi. That being said, can’t I just… hug the walls and report from afar?”

“We need eyes on the inside,” Regina said, “someone who can blend in. You excelled in operative training at the academy if I’m not mistaken.”

“…Ye-es.”

“Then what is the problem?”

Claude’s eyes shifted between Regina’s boots and the moaning rite. He licked his lips hurriedly. “To put it bluntly, Commander, I uh… I’d rather not eat another toxic dart. I barely lived through it last time.”

Regina just looked at him and supplied the frank, superlative advice she was known for: “Then be cautious this time.”

His body stiffened. Claude knew an ill omen when he felt it and if the chill winding round his middle was anything to go by, he would be getting a taste of it real soon. Also twisting his gut was that irrational fear of pricks and whooshing noises, but he would not bring these concerns on his captain. She was going through enough at the moment.

“Ye-es, Commander.” He saluted.

David and Regina stayed in the shadows as Claude sucked in a breath and slipped into the throng of swaying bodies.

Regina had to hand it to her officer: he knew how to infiltrate unseen. Even carrying that burly frame he could masterfully blend in like he was one of the Korobi Brethren.

David watched with baited breath as Claude made his way around the chamber. He inched ever so carefully along the chamber’s rocky walls, only pausing to fix his cowl. His progress halted at one point, leaving David to fear the worst. Two Brothers blocked his path, but Claude simply turned his shoulder and slipped between with a low nod, making sure to keep his human features hidden.

David let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. So far the Korobians had yet to notice the presence of another “Brother.”

The moment Claude entered the chamber Regina’s view became limited. Her vantage point and wanting height left her unable to track her crewman’s position. A rare form of powerlessness rose up in Regina. She hated not being the proverbial “eyes in the sky.” Being out of the loop made it harder for her to keep up appearances as reigning leader and, most importantly, to protect her crew.

She rose up on her toes. “What is happening?” she asked eagerly. When David didn’t answer she pulled on his shoulder. “ _David_.”

“ _What?_ ” he hissed.

“If you don’t tell me what is going on in there I will write you up.”

David rolled his eyes. “The ritual is proceeding. Not much has occurred but chanting and my notorious gut reaction that something bad is going to happen. Claude fine, in case you were wondering.”

Regina evaluated the options before giving a firm nod. “You and I will continue our search. Let’s go.”

“Wait! Regina, what about Claude? We can’t just leave him here without backup.”

“Lieutenant Claude can hold his own. We have another crew member who requires backup, and we do not know what shape she is in to defend herself.”

Regina turned and trekked away before gaining any hint of consent from David.

He stalked after her, squeezing his hands into fists as if they were throttling the life from an invisible opponent. “This mission is getting worse all the _time_.”

* * *

Emma dashed out of the cell, blood pumping hard in her ears. She didn’t have to worry about navigating the maze work of underground tunnels, not when the way was blocked.

Standing between her and her freedom was Loppak. He dipped his head with gritted teeth. Emma backed up a step. She was so very uncertain of her fighting abilities in that moment. Loppak may have looked frail but at least he had a weapon. Emma had nothing.

Gripping his staff in both hands, he leapt at her. Emma reflexively blocked the attack with her forearm. She had sorely underestimated his prowess. Of course a Korobian would be proficient in combat. They had just ended years of conflict amongst themselves.

The force of the blow made her stumble back and cradle her arm to her chest. She wheezed through a few deep breaths and took stock of the situation. Her strength and reflexes were clearly limited by whatever drugs they pumped into her. Add to that her unfamiliarity with her surroundings and Emma was rapidly approaching a no-win scenario.

She swallowed the pain and washed any hint of surprise from her expression. It would do no good to show weakness in the face of her enemy.

He came at her again, faster it would seem and with added force. The blows rained down upon her again and again. Emma ducked out of the way each time in the hopes to tire him. There was power behind those onslaughts. Loppak aimed so much rage at her she could barely look him in the face. His oily black eyes struck fear in her bones.

The chilly sensation elicited a string of curses through her mind. Where on Earth was that cock sure attitude of hers? It had saved her skin on numerous occasions. Why did her ego have to fail her at a time like this?

Soon Loppak had her backed into the wall. Unblinking, he braced his staff against her throat thereby rendered her pinned. He panted with the effort to choke the life from her.

A dry cough escaped Emma as her throat resisted in vain against the Korobi stick. She struggled for air that would not come. She turned away from his fetid breath and pushed against the staff with all her might. The last ditch effort allowed her one gasp of sweet air. It was enough clear the stars from her vision and assert the staff forward.

The stick met Loppak’s face and he stumbled back, dazed. Emma was getting good at that. Black blood streamed from his nostrils and over his mouth. The slickness bubbled and popped behind his growl. He swung his staff around and it connected with a resounding crack. But he didn’t stop there. The staff smacked her shoulder and her spine, inducing her to arch back from the blow. With her anterior unprotected, Loppak took the opportunity to attack. Shouting in her face he asserted the staff’s end into her solar plexus.

Emma hit the ground hard. Face down in the red earth, she coughed and wheezed, eyes tearing. The air wasn’t coming fast enough. Her fingers scrambled in the dirt, caking her nails and cuticles with the stuff. Emma’s mind raced for a strategy. She tried to grasp some semblance of one but the dirt and blood caked around her nostrils and a slickness streamed down the side of her face. The last thing she wanted to do was consider how badly out of shape she was.

Rolling onto her back, Emma scrambled up before the killing strike. She heard the sound of his staff slap the ground where she just lay. Feet pivoting, Emma spun around and kicked him in the shoulder. Loppak wobbled on his thin, ungainly legs. He took another swing at her and another but she ducked away each time. She noticed that he was leaning more heavily on his staff. All that swinging had tired him and with his unsteady balance the battle was drawing to a close.

Loppak realized it as well and intensified his attacks. The offensive reached its peak as Emma caught the staff in one hand and swung her fist around. A stream of blood sailed from his mouth. She tore the stick from his loose grip, flung it away, and punched again. This time she had the presence of mind to direct her aim. One precise hit to the chin rendered him dazed.

He fell back just as Emma picked up the staff. She straddled his waist and wasted no time in bringing his own weapon down against him. The staff made a sickening crunch. Again and again it fell. Soon the sound of a broken skull was replaced by a squelching. Finally, she stopped and so too did the watery gurgles.

The tunnel echoed with her panting and hiccupping sobs. She looked down at the fluid oozing down her shirt. It had splattered everywhere. Black and red mingled so closely it was impossible to distinguish between Loppak’s blood and hers.

Her throat was raw from screaming. Emma couldn’t use her voice if she tried, but that didn’t matter. The blood bath she wore made her look menacing enough that no Korobian would dare confront her.

Emma shakily rose to her feet and stumbled down the nearest tunnel, hoping against hope that it would lead her home.

* * *

“Keep up.”

“I am.”

“Not if you’re two steps behind me.”

“Are you trying to be ironic? Because I’m right here by your side.”

Regina ground to a halt, sending David knocking into her. She steadied him with a fistful of his jacket and gave an irate roll of her eyes. “Did you bring it?”

“The… what? Oh! Yes, of course I brought it.”

From his rucksack David procured a handheld device. When he powered it up with a flip of a switch, the ground penetrating radar gave a hum.

“Okay, now, these walls are several meters thick but with some calibrations I can increase the sensitivity of the GPR to penetrate these layers.” He peered at the scanner as he swept the device right and left. Feeling the puffs of breath on his shoulder, he added, “Any accessible areas would appear dark on the radar. We’re looking for small, enclosed rooms – something that would resemble a detention cell. If they have Emma…” his eyes met Regina’s and mirrored their dread, “that’s where she would be held.”

“What about here.” Regina pointed to a corner of the display.

“That looks like a good place to start. Let’s head in that direction.”

The torches lining the walls lent them ample light to navigate the tunnel. There were several deep grooves cut into the floor that threatened to twist an ankle. Any misstep on groundwater slick areas could send a head cracking into the wall and disorient them. And then there were the feral rodents (hardly within Regina’s top ten native encounters) that skittered from shadow to shadow just itching to sink their teeth into something warm and fleshy.

Those injuries were not fatal but would inevitably slow them down. Of all the disadvantages, time was not in their favor. Despite that, Regina felt the need to pass what little time at their disposal in satisfying curiosity.

“I admit how surprised I was that Killian did not accept my offer to accompany us. Don’t get me wrong, I condemn that pirate’s methods but I appreciate his expertise in the Outer Reaches.”

David agreed, “His travels in that sector _are_ extensive.”

“He turned me down.” She raised a brow. “Why do you think that is?”

“Oh, I’m sure he will help in anyway he can. Don’t mistake his refusal for insult. He means well, but the fact remains: he’s a free spirit.”

“That essentially translates as ‘does not play well with others.’”

David shrugged.

Regina stepped over a precarious fissure and continued on. Head inclined, she stated primly, “I don’t trust him.”

“Then why did you seek his help?”

“Because I trust you. And Emma.” Regina’s gaze lowered. She felt the ache that made her tense from head to toe. “You both seem inexplicably drawn to that man,” she remarked with a curling lip. “I think highly of your judgment. I’d recruit the help of a thousand Raiders if it meant protecting the people I care about. An overconfident smuggler is of little consequence.”

David’s brows rose in surprise. It wasn’t every day that someone complimented his judgment – and from his captain no less. But it was more than David’s conscience being praised. It was more than his opinion of Killian that convinced Regina to make the offer.

David glanced at the woman next to him. Her head remained low, preventing him from discerning her mood. But he didn’t need to see her face to conclude anything. He saw the hours of stress that had built upon her shoulders since Emma boarded that Korobi freighter. From the looks of it, Regina was barely handling the pressures of her rank. She was sharing things with him he never would imagine she’d share. She was vulnerable and hauntingly so.

“Well, Ruby has the conn,” he assured with a smile. “The _Storybrooke_ is in good hands until we return.”

Mood sobered, Regina lifted her chin so he could better see the smug grin. “Nice try.”

He frowned. “What?”

She narrowed her eyes teasingly. “You’re diverting the subject.”

“The subject being…?”

“Killian Jones of course. You did not think I’d let this go, did you?” She threw her head back with a cackle. It sent her into another fit of laughter to feel David’s nervous eyes shift over her. At the risk of taking the long way to her point, Regina embraced subtlety. “What exactly have you been up to since my retirement? I hear you took extended leave from your commission aboard the _Storybrooke_ and haven’t been heard from since. That is, until I coaxed you out of hiding.”

David swallowed, wobbling his head nonchalantly. “Oh, this and that.”

“With whom?”

“Well, our original crew went their separate ways after you and Emma left. We haven’t really spoken much until this mission cropped up.”

“You haven’t really answered my question.” Regina bid her time by taking in the shadows. She kept herself on constant alert and her trigger finger close by. “Please, David. You cannot hide it.”

“Hide what, Commander?”

Patience wore thin on her. She was never known for patience. The hell with it. “That pirate has shown you the infinite wonders of the galaxy.”

“Is that a veiled criticism?”

Regina snorted. “As veiled as your attraction to Jones.”

Stopping short of a bend in the corridor, David put his hands on his hips and thinned his lips. “I don’t understand. Do you have a problem with us or are you just making fun of me?”

“Us?” Regina spun around, mirroring his stance. Her victorious smile widened. “Well, well, well. There it is. I was wondering how long it’d take for that cat to spring out of the bag.”

A veritable flush colored David’s cheeks. “Blast.”

“Blasted Killian more like. You’re here on a hostile planet with no reinforcements and where is he? Where is the dashing Captain Hook and his Jolly Roger? No, don’t give me your platitudes. Do not lie to me, David. He has you wrapped around his finger and you cannot even see it.”

David’s head snapped back. The tone rocked him, but it also struck something sentimental. Regina rarely used his first name. In the past it had always been ‘Lieutenant Nolan’ or just some irate growl. He’d noticed her calling him ‘David’ lately, but this was different.

“Killian is a trickster. Like every other smuggler in the galaxy he is out for himself. He cares only for credits and his image. I don’t know what you see in him.”

David blushed. “Well…”

“I was _not_ asking.”

He held up his hands before the severity in her eyes.

It occurred to David that Regina was being so severe because she cared. She didn’t want him to fall into the wrong sort. After five years of working together, the captain seemed to be warming up to him. Or just infuriated in his choice of partner.

Ire receded in light of the stars still fixed firmly in his eyes. She knew that look too well. Regina sauntered away, yearning for that brightness to come back into her own life. She tossed her hair back and remarked over her shoulder, “He’s a lucky man.”

David perked. He couldn’t believe his ears. Had the captain actually complimented him twice in one day? He grinned from ear to ear. “Really?”

“I hope he knows what he’s getting into.”

David jerked his head back. “Huh?”

Regina shook her head with a roll of her eyes.

A chirping came from her comlink. They stopped and huddled around the comlink so that the transmission didn’t carry down the tunnel.

“Commander Mills here.”

_“Commander, something is going on.”_

Regina and David strained to hear over the crackling frequency. Not much could be deduced from the raspy undertone.

“Claude, we can barely hear you,” David said. “Are you alright?”

_“Yeah, I’m fine for now. I don’t think they’ve spotted me, but you have to get out of the temple straight away. The Korobians are gathering in a kind of processional. I don’t speak their language but I have a feeling this has something to do with Commander Swan.”_

“Officer Raines, you are to hold position. Do you copy?” When Regina failed to receive a response, she shot a glance at David. “Officer Raines, are you receiving us?”

Just as the words left Regina’s mouth the crackling gave way to a series of noises – shuffling feet and the rustle of clothing.

_“Gah!”_

“Claude!” Realizing that Claude had gotten caught and was now fighting his way out, David took the comlink with trembling fingers. “Cla –“

Regina snatched the communicator back and fought the tremor from her voice before speaking, “Officer Raines, what is your position?”

_“Don’t – Oof!”_

The warbled transmission cut out, leaving Claude’s fate unknown. Not much time passed before Regina made a decision that just might endanger the entire mission. Without warning, she drew her blaster and turned back.

“Regina, wait!”

When she reached the opening to the chamber, she caught herself on the wall. She watched, panting from the sprint and concealing herself with a white knuckled grip on the rock.

There at the center of a sea of robes was Claude. They were swarming him, those farthest raising their staffs in encouragement as the Brothers closest struck blow after blow. Not much could be seen of him, but it was obvious that he had been unmasked and restrained. One of the Brothers shouted forth before bringing his staff down on the bald, human head.

Regina clamped a hand over her mouth. This was not happening again. She made a promise to herself that her actions would not get another one of her crew killed. She had made sure of it by taking herself out of the equation; her retirement should have kept them safe. But here she was, leading once again and deciding who lived and died.

A gurgling moan sounded. Claude was still alive. He was also lucid enough to get to his feet and get a few punches in. One of the Korobians took it in the face and reeled back. Claude, faithful soldier that he was, intended to fight his way out, make a hole, anything that would give him a chance. But the mob was so thick it just closed in on him.

The rousing shout Claude gave caused Regina’s tear stained lids to fly open. Deciding the fate of yet another crew member, Regina unclung herself from the wall and sprang forward. She might have looked intimidating with a blaster aimed and the unmistakable rage fixed in her expression, but neither of those things could hide the horror underneath. It threatened to break the surface and shock her immobile. Only stubbornness kept her feet moving and her gun trained.

The distance Regina leapt did not have the desired effect. Her long stride _should_ have taken her into the well-lit chamber and reveal herself to the Korobians if it were not for the arms circling her waist.

Regina gave a squeak as the vice grip dragged her back. David heaved her up as she kicked in mid air, trying to get back to Claude, her crewman who needed her more than he was willing to admit. He wouldn’t call out to her and betray their position, and that spurred Regina all the more.

Once they were a ways from the chamber, David deposited her. No sooner had he let her go than she started shoving him away.

“Get out of my way!” she growled. When he refused, she balled her fists and pummeled his chest. “ _David!_ ”

He didn’t wince. He didn’t even defend himself. Regina needed to do this. She needed to let out the frustration kept under lock and key for who knows how long. David’s expression fell. What he wouldn’t give for Emma to be here. She would know what to do.

“Regina. _Regina!_ ” Calling out didn’t seem to work so he grabbed hold of her wrists to stop her flailing. “Stop this. You’re doing no one any good. Pull it together!”

“How dare you!” she snarled, her face a livid red. “I’m your captain and I _order_ you to save him!”

“It’s too late.”

David’s voice cracked. She didn’t know did she? She didn’t hear the sound of a blaster going off or the thump of a body. Maybe her failures as a captain had rendered her blind and deaf to the truth. David himself couldn’t know for sure. He couldn’t know if Claude’s weapon was turned against him or he had the nerve to beat his assailants to it. Either way he was gone.

“It’s too late,” he repeated gently. His hands opened in a sign of peace as he reached out to her.

Many people knew Regina Mills as the successful captain of the _Storybrooke_ who doled out blaster bolts to Raiders like candy. But few knew her as just Regina, the woman who bled, who loved whole heartedly, and who flew in a rage at the slightest threat to her family.

Her reaction to Claude’s death did not surprise him. What did was the transformation taking place: the all-consuming fury melting down her cheeks and fading to recognition. Grief sagged her features and it wasn’t long before she collapsed against him.

“Whoa.”

He caught her with aghast and instinctively held her close. Moisture stained his shirt as he lowered them to the sandy floor. She curled up like a child, so small and light in his arms and soliciting comfort with a shuddering breath.

“I can’t do this anymore.” Regina’s head moved from side to side, her words muffled by David’s chest. “I can’t.”

David nibbled his bottom lip and went for a pat on the back. The attempt, though valiant, only managed to make her cry harder. “Hey…”

“I keep hurting the people I love.”

“Claude?”

“Emma,” she moaned, body wrenching as if in physical pain.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. We’ve only just begun our search. She’s still out here.”

He felt her stiffen. Those words had the same effect on him. Frankly, he had no idea if they would find Emma in this maze of tunnels. The Korobi temple was a masterful work of architecture with unseen dangers around every corner.

“You’re not helping Emma this way. What would she say to this? You abandoning our mission and mumbling nonsensically?” He looked down at her and patted the mussed head of hair affectionately. Smirking, he mumbled, “You’re a catastrophe.”

Regina sniffed and lifted her head. Despite the red-rimmed eyes and trembling chin she managed an indignant look. “I’m still your captain.”

The icy tone actually encouraged him for once. “My apologies. You care to correct me?”

She shoved him away. It took more effort than expected to get to her feet but she did so with no help and only a slight stumble. Using the end of her sleeve, she cleaned her nose and cheeks. She fought the thickness with a clearing of her throat.

“I intend to carry on. We have a mission to fulfill and I will not condemn another one of my crew to a merciless fate.”

David fought the smile tugging at his mouth and nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

Regina returned the nod and took up her blaster once again. With David falling in beside her, she swallowed down the misery that had just taken hold of her. It would benefit them all to keep a level head. She could not let herself have another lapse. Nervous breakdowns were to be taken on sabbatical and behind closed doors, not in the middle of a mission and in the arms of a subordinate.

But that didn’t make her sudden descent into wallowing unreasonable. She wasn’t meant to return to Cosmofleet and resume her duties. She left that life. She was a mother – no, _guardian_ , she corrected. She had a child to take care of. What in seven hells was she doing leaving Henry behind? If Regina perished along with Emma then he would have no family left. The thought of failing Emma pained her, but failing Henry nearly stopped her heart.

The thick, subterranean air hung all around them. She breathed it in through her nose and out through her mouth. She cleared her mind of all distraction and focused on the task. The routine helped her regain her bearings. She was back in battle mode.

* * *

Bolting from the corpse of Nal Korobi’s reigning hero, Emma went in search of a secluded alcove. She followed several corridors and passed more than her fair share of dizzying forks before finding shelter. The shadowed dead end would not hide her indefinitely, but provided her time to gather her wits.

“Blast,” she muttered, bent over and clutching her side.

Her eyes squeezed shut through the rattling pangs. When she caught her breath, she dug the comlink from her belt and hailed a number from memory.

The two-way communicated beeped just twice before it received a startlingly formal response.

_“Calvary is on its way, Miss Swan.”_

“Regina!” she exclaimed, collapsing against the wall in relief. “Calvary? No shit! I just killed their leader. I’d say I’ve got this planet’s entire population out looking for me.”

_“I have a shuttle on standby and waiting to pick you up. Just stay alive so David and I can hone in on your comm’s signal.”_

“Vaporize me. Seriously?!”

_“You must be something special or we wouldn’t be risking so much to land on a hostile world.”_

Emma melted a little at the realization that two of her crew members were risking their lives to save her sorry ass. “Thanks, Regina.”

_“Thank me later. Keep your eyes peeled for guards and do not go rogue on me, Miss Swan, is that clear?”_

“What, and screw up your heroic moment? I wouldn’t dare.”

_“Just don’t do anything more idiotic than usual, please.”_

Emma grinned “Copy.”

The transmission ended with a dull tone. Emma looked around in the alcove and deemed it safe for the moment. Five minutes later she found herself leaning against the wall and dividing her time between folding her arms and driving her hands into her pockets. Long sighs uttered in the small space.

Eventually she popped her head out of hiding and regarded the hallway. Left… right… no sign of Korobians. She rolled her eyes.

“Screw this,” she mumbled and took off down one of the tunnels.

* * *

Guided by the tracer in Regina’s comlink, she and David turned down yet another corridor. This one branched out into several large caverns, all empty and devoid of guards.

With every bleep, the device took them one step further to Emma’s location. There was every reason to believe she wouldn’t be where she said she’d be, but neither David nor Regina were willing to accept a setback of that magnitude. They had already spent precious time coming upon dead ends and skeletal remains. There was no telling what they’d find at the end of this tunnel.

The path opened to a yawning chamber peppered with a dozen other exits. According to David’s GPR, a cluster of enclosed, prison-like rooms awaited just across the way.

Padding feet alerted them to the presence of others. A pulse of light cut across the chamber. Regina pulled David back just in time. The bolt fizzled into the rock wall where his head had been. Nevertheless, the fault in aim was followed by a hailstorm of blaster fire.

“Korobi guards!” shouted David.

Backs to the wall, they took turns pulling off shots. Based on the rate of fire, the Korobian’s had called for reinforcements. David and Regina squinted in the thick smoke, barely able to make out the other.

“This is ideal,” Regina sassed to no one in particular.

David spun just as a small rockslide crumbled from above. The solid corner they hid behind was good for cover but it wouldn’t last against the constant barrage. “Mm-hm.”

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce their chances. It was two pistols against a swarm of armed assailants. They were pinned down with no means of reaching the tunnel on the other side.

“My gods,” gasped David. Hope in conflict with his astonishment, he batted the smoke from his view. “Is that… Emma?”

Regina, too, strained to see through the haze of battle. When she finally made out Emma, under layers of blood and stumbling disoriented in the middle of a firefight, Regina’s heart leapt into her throat.

Her blaster dropped to her side. She took a step. “Oh… Emma.”

Then, like the flip of a switch, concern morphed to fury. Regina swallowed a whimper and coerced herself not to fall apart.

“I told her to stay where she was!” she exclaimed, whirling on David. “Why doesn’t she do what she’s told?!”

“Maybe that’s something to ask her after we get out of this blasted mess?” David suggested.

Regina huffed and heaved her blaster up. “Stay here and supply me cover fire.”

It was insane. She was certifiably spaced out. David was convinced. He shook his head. “Please don’t.”

Please don’t, he thought, because this beats any combat sim in academy history by a lightyear.

There was very little cover but a few buckled pillars and thick stalagmites growing up from the ground. There were several deep trenches between them and Emma, some Regina would be able to hurdle and dodge, but in the midst of blaster fire? When they couldn’t see two feet in front of them?

David followed Regina’s gaze across the chamber to gage the objective. Emma was just short of a long, waist-high fortification. The natural rock formation held fast under fire and would provide adequate cover. If Regina could reach it she could crawl her way to safety. And Emma.

“What about coming back?” David asked, eyes wildly searching Regina. “You have a plan for that?”

“Not presently,” Regina admitted, swallowing. “But I will come up with something.”

“That’s not comforting.”

“I’m not your therapist, David. I can’t offer you stardust and gold honors of merit. Now arm yourself. And whatever you do, do not stop firing.”

David didn’t recoil from the biting tone. He just nodded grimly and got a grip on his blaster. Regina flung off her robe so she could run unencumbered and jammed her blaster in her holster. I’m not spaced out, she told herself. This was going to work. She shook out her hands to loosen the tension. She bent her knees and dug the balls of her feet in.

When David received her signal, he took a deep breath and inched around the corner. He took aim and began firing. His captain became a blur as she sprinted ahead.

“Blast!” Regina muttered as a bolt whizzed by her. She felt the searing heat of it and swore at the singed hairs no doubt on her head.

A Korobian took aim at her and missed. She was a speeding distortion and therefore difficult to target, but she had a long way to go and plenty of obstacles in her path. A stalactite dislodged from the ceiling and plummeted. She dodged it in the nick of time. The guards saw the occurrence and aimed their weapons high. Suddenly, dozens of sharp rocks were raining down on her.

Regina quickly slid and took cover under a fallen obelisk. Plaster stuck to her sweat slick forehead and cheeks. She coughed on the dust the rockslide had churned up, lungs straining for oxygen. This wouldn’t do. She peered through a fissure in the obelisk and saw the huddled figure. Sighing with relief that Emma still lived, Regina gathered her wits and sprinted the rest of the way.

Despite David’s help, the guards were now training all their firepower on taking Regina down. In a last ditch effort, Regina pushed herself as fast as she ever had, leaping and ducking and racing to shelter. She tucked her shoulder at the last minute and rolled behind the fortification.

A rumble sounded, shaking the ground and walls around them. All the blaster fire was making the chamber dangerously unstable. Finally, the ceiling gave out and came crashing down. Two-ton boulders and sharp as vibroknife stalactites fell behind Regina as she scrambled to safety.

Coughing on dirt and acrid smoke, Regina pushed her hair out of her face and looked in horror at the blocked passage. The collapsed ceiling sealed the way shut. There was no going back.

She smacked the solid obstruction. “Gods damn it!”

Her hand drew over her face. She took a deep breath that calmed her nerves. This wasn’t the worst development. At least the cave in separated them from Korobian guards. An escape route came second in priority compared to the situation before her now.

Emma stood caked in layers of red dust. Her shoulders hung loose at her sides, bereft of the weapon she hadn’t noticed she left behind in an all out sprint. Based on the wide eyes, her mind hadn’t yet caught up to her feet. She barely realized her aimless flight had reached a head.

“Just a small detour?” Regina croaked. She had hoped it would be stern enough to make Emma sorry, but she miscalculated how erratic her heart responded to this woman’s heroics. Gods damn it, she thought. Why can’t I just slap her?

Regina soon realized that it was the wrong thing to say. Emma’s hands were shaking and there were tears streaming down her cheeks. She had suffered through something she wasn’t in any shape to discuss. What became very clear very fast to Regina was that whatever the ordeal, it had rendered Emma fragile and terrified. Regina had never seen her so terrified.

“Emma?”

It was enough to snap her out of it. Not a moment later, Emma keeling forward. Wide-eyed, Regina readied to catch her but when the mouth pressed to hers it occurred that Emma wasn’t falling.

It was short-lived and uncoordinated, but the fire was still there. Despite the force behind the kiss, it wasn’t what they truly wanted in that moment. In the years they had known one another, it wasn’t a kiss that demonstrated their intimacy but the looks and the touches. A kiss would just not do.

A cloud of dust resulted from their sudden embrace. The particles sparkled and sifted around as they took each other in. They hugged like they hadn’t seen each other in years. It was like they had woken up from a horrible nightmare and sought relief in the tangible.

The nails clawing through Emma’s hair gave her new life. She found strength in the breaths puffing against her ear and the face nuzzling her neck. It didn’t take long for her to return the favor. Emma bit back a sob in the curtain of hair. Regina was coated in plaster and sweat, but she was still the same woman. The heart racing under her palm was as real as the one in her own chest. And gods had she waited long enough.

Emma wrapped her arms around Regina so completely she nearly lifted her clean off the ground. Though she had spent four years scouring the galaxy for who she was, she still possessed a sense of recklessness. Even in an embrace.

Her hand came up to cup the back of Regina’s head and brought their foreheads together.

“I thought I’d never see you again.” Emma choked on a sob before returning to safe haven. She buried deeper into Regina’s neck, clinging for fear that yet another calamity might rip them apart.

“I’m sorry,” Regina murmured. It sounded like pleading to her ears but she couldn’t give a damn. She stroked her fingers through Emma’s hair with soothing intention that turned frantic. “I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner.”

After all this time spent in retirement, the captain never lost her audacity. She proved it by kissing Emma properly. The gasp she received made her shiver and catch fire all at the same time. She didn’t want it to end. All the planets in the galaxy could align and Regina still wouldn’t stop.

It was a hell of a kiss. What set it apart from the others was every iota of longing they put into it. It bridged four years of loneliness. By the time Emma came to her senses and kissed back, it resembled everything they wanted since they reunited – the passion, the haste, the raw desperation, and the need to overpower.

Emma groaned as Regina kissed her jaw and down her neck. They kept their arms around each other, grasping as they ground wantonly together, exchanging the grime that had amassed on their clothes. It wasn’t just the adrenaline from battle that aroused their senses. It was the not seeing each other for four years and the other two of refusing to act on these feeling that resulted in their collide.

“I’m going to get you home,” Regina said.

She gently cupped Emma’s cheek. The connection barely sparked sense into the woman. Emma was still in shock. She would faint soon if the pale expression and unsteady gait were anything to go by. Regina roused her by pressing a few kisses to her mouth.

“I’m going to get you home to Henry. Stay with me no matter what.” She took the spare pistol from her belt and placed it in Emma’s lifeless hand. It hurt to do it, but Regina pinned the inert fingers around the weapon’s handle. “Can you use this?”

Emma shouldn’t have had to defend herself after what she’d been through. Circumstances, though, chasing on their heels and blistering the smoky air with the ghost of blaster fire left them no choice.

Emma lips pinned shut so tight they turned white. She nodded. “I got it. I’m right behind you.”

“You better be.” Regina squeezed the hand in hers and led her down the hall. “We need to find a way out. Did you come across any drafty corridors? Anything that might lead us to the surface?”

“I… I don’t know. I wasn’t really looking.”

The strain showing in Emma’s expression saddened Regina. She must have been so panicked all logic had passed her by like a streaking comet.

Regina took out her comlink and switched it to her team’s frequency.

 _“Regina!”_ squawked the voice on the other end. _“You made it! I thought you were dead! After the ceiling collapsed there was just no way I could –“_

“David, I’m alright. Where are you? Did you make it out of the temple?”

_“Yeah, I’m at the shuttle. Is Emma with you? Is she okay? What did those bastard Korobians do to her?!”_

“David. Please calm yourself. Emma is alive and well. We are not in the best of circumstances though and would appreciate some assistance.”

 _“Right.”_ An exhale crackled through. The sound of the shuttle door hissed open in the background. “Right, I’m executing the start up sequence. I can use the navi-com to lock onto your comlink’s signal and guide you as close to the surface as possible. Once we manage that… Well, I have no plan on how to bridge the several meters of rock between us. I, uh… I’m sure I’ll come up with something…”

“The shuttle has two auxiliary cannons. I suggest you put them to good use.”

_“Really? I thought artillery was prohibited on short-range craft.”_

“I had Leroy make some undisclosed modifications before we left Earth. My intuition isn’t as rusty as the fleet might think. The admirals seem to think missions to save the galaxy are without the unexpected stop or two.”

David chuckled. _“Aye-aye, Commander.”_

“Good. Keep the channel open and your eyes peeled. The last thing I need is a postponed ride off this hell hole.”

_“See you in a few.”_

Regina pocked the device and caught Emma’s eyes. “What?”

Emma shook her head. “Wonders never cease. It’s been four years and you haven’t lost it.”

In light of the spiral of self-criticism Regina suffered recently, it was just what she needed to hear. Only Emma would fight her demons for her, freely and without prejudice. She was the only possible person in the galaxy who could save her from herself.

The compliment flooded through Regina like warm sunshine. Combined with the little smile it was so sweet she could not get enough of it if she tried.

Blushing slightly, Regina returned the smile. She took Emma’s hand with the intention of never letting go again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have slipped in some references to Aliens and Doctor Who. Paying my respects, as it were.

The transport careered sharply left, just missing the shuttle bay door.

“Damn, David.” Emma clutched fast to her armrests. She forced her eyes to remain open as they sailed through the _Storybrooke’s_ containment field. “They’re called stabilizers. Please use them.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled, flexing his grip on the controls. “Must be nerves.”

With the stabilizers enabled, the shuttlecraft settled gently to the ground. Outside, personnel dodged the parked transport and ran about to their battle stations. Bells were ringing and alarms were flashing level red.

Emergency procedure in this case directed pilots to the ship’s port and aft stations. Although the _Storybrooke_ was only fitted with two cannons for defense, Ruby must have been in a position to use whatever means to deter the Korobians.

Since lifting off Nal Korobi, the planet had been facilitating an expeditious attack. The _Storybrooke_ , too massive to maneuver around such an incursion, could do nothing but wait for the return of their away team and rely on their shields to take the brunt of firepower. Now that Regina and her crew were aboard, Ruby would commence a retreat.

Regina threw off her harness and patted David’s shoulder. “Get yourself to Medbay. Have Doctor Blanchard take a look at that brain of yours as well. I don’t know what in god’s name possessed you to use such flight tactics.”

“Well I’m not a blasted pilot, am I? I’m a gods damned scientist and if I ask to join another surface party again, you can look me square in the eyes and say ‘Not blasted likely, Nolan!’”

Regina and Emma stared with matching expressions of appall at the man.

“Sorry. Nerves.”

“Or something,” muttered Emma as she extricated herself from the co-pilot’s chair.

Regina scrambled out of the shuttle to catch up. “You too,” she called ahead.

“’Me too’ what?”

“You must get yourself checked out. You may have sustained internal injuries. I will personally escort you Medbay.”

Emma snorted. “Yeah, right.”

Regina paused as if slapped in the face. Flustered, and not exactly sure why, she shook her fists and stepped forward. “Hey!”

The sheer force of the demand stopped Emma in her tracks. Before turning around she sighed and weighed her options. She could go two ways about calming this woman down and both of them required time they didn’t have.

By the time she met Regina’s eyes they were not as stern as expected. They were more affectionately stern – if there was such a thing. She felt a stab of guilt.

Emma looked down at her boots and said in a quiet voice, “Thank you for coming back for me.”

Regina jerked her head back in surprise. Upon seeing the caution on display, she tipped her head with tenderness. “I was simply returning the favor.”

Eyes still bearing downward, Emma gave a tight smile. “So does that make us even?”

“Depends. We seem to make a habit of diving into seven hells for each other.”

“That’s for sure.” Emma looked up, grinning. “I’d do it all over again, you know.”

A sense of security blanketed Regina. She smiled fondly. “I do.”

“You’re still not getting me to Medbay.”

“ _Emma_.”

Emma laughed all the way to the turbolift. Stomping boot heels followed.

Once the lift closed shut, Regina stood closer to the doors so Emma couldn’t see her face. Despite their differences, they traveled the lift in companionable silence. Still, there was something itching beneath the surface, something present yet altered. There lacked that same tension frequented between them in the past. This tension had an unusual effect and went by a different name.

The lights winked out for a moment before flickering back to life. Then the lift creaked to a halt and was doused in darkness. The entire ship groaned as it pitched slightly forward. By the time it righted itself, the screeching stopped but the lift remained disabled.

Emma noticed the stiff shoulders, a classic sign that told her that her commander was suffering the burden of protecting the entire ship. Someone as aggressively competent as Regina did not take this well, this sitting on the sidelines.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure Ruby has everything under control.”

Regina whirled, hair stirring with the turn. Her eyes flashed with an intensity Emma didn’t have time to decode. Turning her chin up, Regina cupped Emma’s face and met her in a surprisingly tender kiss.

They didn’t so much stop as they did linger, lips grazing and noses touching. Theirs mouths met again and again in the barest of kisses, only pausing to enjoy the fact that they could and diving back in for more.

Inching back for a proper breath, Emma couldn’t help but smirk. “I though we were going for professional here.”

The reality of where they stood and who they were became suddenly apparent, but only for a moment. Regina brushed the anxiety off with ease. She could because her priorities had changed. The fear of not knowing if Emma was alive or dead had been more crippling than when she had been away all those years. This time Regina had the power to do something about it. This time she knew she could fail utterly and lose out on a golden opportunity, the opportunity to let love in again.

But she had succeeded, and she poured her longing and her everything into Emma. So damn professionalism.

Melting into the touch at the small of her back, Regina closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. At the height of it, she wet her lip before biting into it. “I have a history of being emotionally compromised. Anyway, the measure of personal behavior in any scenario is relative.”

“It doesn’t get any more personal than this, Captain Mills,” Emma pointed out.

Regina’s shoulder rose in a shrug. “I respectfully disagree.” She kissed her again before embracing her fully. A moment passed and she pulled back slightly with an expression of gravity. “Do you know who you are now, Emma Swan?"

“I do.”

The pull Regina felt, not just of Emma’s hand on her back but the one tugging from the center of her chest, had been going on for some time now. Only recently had she allowed it. It took years to relinquish her grip, and it was a good thing she did for if they had waited any longer that pull would have grown taught from resistance and snapped in two. Now that Regina knew what it felt like to give in, to feel that pull whether by the hand at her back or the heart cradled in hand, suffice it to say, now she would never endanger such possibility of severing that connection.

There was something Emma said that she couldn’t shake. “Emma, when we are together like this…” she blinked, shaking her head to the notion, “I am not your captain.”

“What –“

Regina turned so her lips pressed just under Emma’s ear. “I’m just Regina.”

With the ever-present prophecy at the back of her mind, Emma sighed and buried her nose in Regina’s silken hair. “Hey.”

No one would dare greet this captain with such off-the-cuff demeanor, not unless they were something less than a captain and more than a friend.

The smile flourishing on Regina’s face made her feel ten years younger. “Hey.”

Just then the turbolift decided to come to life. It shook briefly before humming.

Mouth set in earnest, Emma sidestepped Regina and punched the ascent control.

“What are you doing?”

“We’re heading to the bridge,” Emma explained. She cut in before Regina could take issue, casting a stern look as she did so. “I’m not going to Medbay. This thing is not over and we need to get you in a position to scold our helmsman.”

“But Emma –“

“I’m perfectly fine. Now can we leave it at that?”

The lift’s resounding ding gave Regina no room to argue. Emma was already walking through the main bridge as if she didn’t just pull rank. Illegitimately, of course.

An irate sigh hissed from Regina.

“Captain on the bridge!”

“Thank gods you’re back,” Belle gushed from her panel.

Ruby pulled her hands to her hips and turned on her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing you’re prepared to accept at the moment.”

“Says who? I am perfectly qualified to handle the conn and just as qualified in taking constructive criticism. So speak candidly if you please.” Ruby crossed her arms, finger tapping as she waited.

“You could have easily evaded those attacks if –“

“I’m sorry,” Ruby’s arms flew out in exasperation, “is this a nimble starfighter that can duck and weave that shit storm out there? Rumple, help me out.”

“I’d rather not,” Rumple said, scales puckering at the neck. “A Lacertan does not position himself between two quarreling humans.”

“Rumple!” screeched Belle.

“I’m currently engaging the hyperdrive to get us out of this mess. Now if you would please leave me out of it…”

Realizing she had been all but removed from conversation, Regina twirled her hand in midair, faking a blasé attitude. “I can see I missed quite a bit. Shall I return at a later date? When my senior officers have berated my ship into a supernova?”

Astrid went red to the tips of her ears. “Excuse us, Captain. It’s been a bit of a struggle. With the loss of shields and the power going out on six decks, the _Storybrooke_ might not have the capacity to make the jump to hyperspace. The main computer is one of the only functioning systems onboard and it’s warning us of several unsafe hull breaches. Rumple has maneuvered us out of range from Korobi missiles, but we are essentially crippled with no possibility of rescue!” she finished with a squeak.

Regina didn’t know whether to roll her eyes or groan imposingly. “Well, at least someone is telling me what’s going on.”

Emma gave Astrid a half smile and translated, “That was a compliment.”

Regina shushed her with a wave of her hand. “What are these perilous hull breaches you speak of?”

“It’s likely –“

The turbolift doors parted and out came David with a flustered Mary Margaret on his heels.

“David, I have not cleared you yet!”

He walked up to Regina with a determined look on his face. “How can I help?”

Arms folded and brow raised, Regina panned between him and the doctor. Once she appraised the situation she decided to wave it off in light of more pressing concerns. That and she’d give anything to piss off Doctor Blanchard. “Astrid was just about to give a damage report.” She turned to Astrid with a slightly smug expression. “Were you not?”

“As I was saying…” Realizing that all eyes were on her, Astrid put her fist up to her mouth and cleared her throat. “Ah, yes, as I was saying, the computer has detected three locations in the exterior hull where missiles have penetrated several layers of framework. There are three tears in the port side.”

“To what extent of tearing are we talking about here?” asked Regina. “Because if it is small scale we can utilize the retractable arm to seal the rupture.”

“The tears are large enough to leak oxygen but too delicate for the arm to repair. This job requires steady hands and… well, human judgment.”

“How can this have happened?” Emma asked, frowning. “Weren’t the shields activated?”

Astrid nodded. “Activated and functioning during the first round of attacks. But the missiles just kept coming and Ruby couldn’t very well order us to leave orbit without our crew.”

Regina fell into a dark trance. She could still hear the curdled screams and cracks of blunt forced trauma. “Not everyone,” she whispered.

The thought of relaying her condolences to Claude’s family did not sit well with her. Out of all her duties as commander it was the least enjoyable. Of course, that was the point. It _should_ pain her to face his grieving wife and offer some explanation. How could she possibly justify his sacrifice? Why did he have to be the one to distract the Korobians so she and David could escape? How could Regina sympathize with a woman who lost her partner when she herself damned Claude to save her own? His life for Emma’s. How could Claude’s family come to terms when his captain could not?

She shook her head, blinking herself back to present matters.

“Our hull is reinforced with a durasteel alloy but it is not indestructible. The _Storybrooke_ can only evade so many assaults before we pay the price. What are our options?”

This was where Astrid lost stride. Not altogether sure how the captain would react to the news, she shifted her gaze between Regina and Emma.

Regina picked up on the subtle plea for help. She rolled her eyes. “There is no need to fret, dear. You are not facing expulsion.” She enjoyed a smirk before adding, “The airlocks are damaged, after all.”

“That’s just it, Commander. In any other case we could simply done our EVACs and repair the hull damage from outside. But with the airlocks impaired by the attack there is no other means of egress, which essentially leaves us marooned and two hours from suffocation!”

“Whoa,” Emma breathed, palms out to calm the frazzled Astrid, “no one’s suffocating. We have a plan.” She turned to Regina with an expectant look. “Right?”

Regina remained mute. She was already in the thick of formulating a plan, yet her downcast eyes revealed a forgone conclusion.

“Great,” settled Belle before rotating back to her panel.

Ruby worried at her lip, deep in concentration. “I wonder what death by explosive decompression feels like.”

David was thinking along the same lines. His grave face was answer enough but being the scientist he was he couldn’t let scientific curiosity go without sound clarification.

“Once exposed to the vacuum of space,” he started, “without a helmet or suit it takes 15 seconds for the blood to deoxygenate and trigger hypoxia. Exposed skin burns from solar radiation. Brain and heart still function but not for long. Loss of oxygen leads to circulatory failure and paralysis. Beyond that the body progresses to swelling and rapid cooling. It lasts about 90 seconds but you’re only conscious for 14.” Nearly forgetting the company he kept, David inclined his head towards the helmsman. “This is specific to humans, but I’m sure the same can be said of Lacertan biology.”

“Most illuminating,” Rumple muttered.

Emma cradled her forehead. “Thanks for painting that picture for us, David.”

He shrugged. “Just trying to help.”

“So if the only way to repair the damage is to go outside,” Emma said, “and the only suits we have are in airlock terminals, and there are no airlocks… what is our alternative?”

No one had an answer. They all shared faces painted white, just obsessed with death by suffocation.

Rumple shrugged. “Someone has to EVAC without a suit?”

“Not helping, love,” Belle piped.

“Well,” said Ruby, “if someone is going out there they’re not coming back, that’s for sure.”

“I’ll go,” Mary Margaret offered meekly.

Not hearing her, Emma shook her head with rolling eyes. “Nice attitude, Ruby. Keep it up.”

“I’m trying to make light of a desperate situation. Not everything has to be doom and gloom. Geez!”

The doctor stood straight, chin held high. “I will volunteer.”

“Logically speaking here,” David started with raised hands, “one could survive a few minutes outside without proper gear. But that’s not enough time to do repairs and return with even a five percent chance of being resuscitated.”

“Really, David,” Emma remarked. “I’ve had about enough of you and your logic. It’s scaring people shitless.”

“What is so wrong with logic?” contended Regina, arms crossed. “It has gotten us this far.”

Ruby’s eyes shot to the ceiling. “Gotten us as far as stranded and two hours from a painful death by suffocation!”

“I am surrounded by squabbling idiots.”

Belle’s eyes flared. “Rumple! I’ve had it up to here with your species discrimination. As your partner I ask that you please join the conversation.”

“This is not a conversation. It is a catastrophe.”

The bridge became a battleground of voices, all competing in raised tones. They pointed fingers, accused, discriminated, and spat sarcasm. They were so consumed by their own impending demise that they did not notice the small figure asserting herself in their midst.

“I _said_ I’ll _go!_ ”

Regina was the first to hear it. She titled her head, frowning at the sound. It was a voice unlike that of the sentimental, reserved doctor. While the others continued to argue, she turned and faced Mary Margaret.

For a petite young woman, there appeared an enormous amount of emotion. Terror… pride… calling… The intensity had been building for so long that it would burst at any moment. Regina had never witnessed so much _feeling_ in synthetic eyes. Not even in any human’s.

With a suddenness that astounded the doctor, Regina barked, “Quiet!” while keeping their gazes locked. She pursed her lips before relaxing her demeanor. “What was that, dear?”

Mary Margaret looked from one crewmember to the next. “I – I said I’ll go out. I’ll go out and repair the ship.”

Emma’s jaw dropped. “But you’re not a mechanic! Or a structural engineer! You can’t even pilot a shuttle without ten alarms going off!”

“Emma…” Regina started.

“Don’t ‘Emma’ me! You know as well as I do she’s more liable to make the situation worse than it already is! This is _your_ ship and you’re about to let your _worst_ nightmare fix it!”

“Diminishing her value will not solve our problem. If Dr. Blanchard believes she can repair the hull, then who are we to stand in her way?”

“You’re the gods damned captain! You choose who lives and who dies! Or have you learned nothing from Nal Korobi?”

Regina flinched. It was a low blow and they both knew it.

Seemingly forgetting their audience, Emma jabbed a finger at Mary Margaret. “If you make her go out there without backup, we have a serious problem you and I. As your second-in-command I will not support you and your blitzing decision.”

“You forget: you are a _consultant_. And I would not dare make such an order. To command any humanoid crewmember of mine out there would be immoral and grounds for court marshal. But she is not humanoid, is she? And she is _volunteering_ , is she not?” With Emma at a loss for reply, Regina turned to Mary Margaret. “Do you understand the risks involved in this endeavor?”

She nodded. “I do.”

“Do you understand that if you become injured, incapacitated, or stranded, we will not be able to retrieve you or your body?”

Emma’s mouth twitched but she kept silent.

Mary Margaret eyes searched Regina’s. She took a breath and let it out with an, “I understand everything, Commander.”

* * *

_Fifteen seconds until blood deoxygenates… skin bubbles, blisters, and burns… brain and heart function but not for long… phase one: paralysis… phase two: convulsions… phase three: swelling… final phase: popsicle._

Over and over it repeated in Emma’s mind like a mantra. She growled to herself, trying to shake out of the negative thoughts – talk of exploding body parts and all.

Mary Margaret wasn’t human, so it shouldn’t matter. Right?

She was human to me, Emma thought. _Is_ human.

She couldn’t shake the idea that her best friend wouldn’t come back. The fear wouldn’t dislodge itself. She wish she could take a pill that would erase this whole situation and wake up to the healthy hum of a ship with all souls onboard. Life wasn’t that easy. Space wasn’t made for easy. It didn’t cooperate with human survival.

Maybe we should have kept are damned feet on the ground, Emma thought glumly.

“Stop doing that.”

Emma turned to Regina. “Stop doing what?”

“Thinking up worst case scenarios. It won’t help her.”

“I doubt she can hear my thoughts.”

“It’s in your voice. And if I can detect it, so can she.”

There was not a trace of concern in Regina’s voice. Emma didn’t understand that. How could a captain not worry herself to seven hells about a long-time member of her crew? Aside from their family history and the continuous resentment on Regina’s part, how could she just let Mary Margaret go out there? An android may be able to withstand inhospitable environments, but that didn’t mean they _wanted_ to.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Mary Margaret had said when they were all on the bridge together. “I’d prefer not to go. I’m synthetic, but I’m not an idiot.”

“Debatable,” Regina had muttered.

Using whatever materials they could get their hands on, they prepared Mary Margaret as best they could against the element of sub-zero temperatures. Radiation contamination couldn’t be helped. There wasn’t much they could do about the debris field surrounding the damaged hull. It would not be a picnic.

If Regina felt anything at all, she wasn’t showing it. Emma wouldn’t even detect it over her own worry. She wouldn’t notice that Regina had been on her feet for hours, sometimes pacing and other times glowering from over her officers’ shoulders and making sure the ship was positioned at the perfect degree and rate of velocity. Emma wouldn’t see the real battle going on in Regina because she was waging her own.

Emma scrubbed a hand over her face. “How long has she been out there?”

“ETA one hour and 23 minutes,” Belle relayed. “She’s nearly finished.”

Regina eyed the distraught, pale figured beside her. She lay a hand on her arm. “Speak to her.”

“And say what?”

“It doesn’t matter. Just talk. She needs a familiar voice.”

Emma felt numb to the gentle touch trailing away. The warm presence faded, leaving her alone with the comms. At least, as alone as she could be in the corner of an occupied bridge.

She checked around her, self-conscious of the ears in her midst, but everyone seemed to be trying their damnedest to be discrete.

Swallowing, she opened the channel. “Hey, it’s Emma.” She bit into her bottom lip, waiting for a response. “How’s it looking out there?”

A series of raps, metal on metal, sounded before Mary Margaret’s voice came through. _“I’m having some trouble with the seal. Visual acuity is limited considering my lack of a proper visor. And there’s quite a lot of fragments drifting around. All in all it’s looking very disorderly out here.”_ A genuine chuckled emitted. _“It reminds me of someone’s cabin.”_

“You didn’t have to do this, you know? Be a hero and all that…”

_“That’s a bit the pot calling the kettle black, Emma. If I had a credit for every time you dived into a solar storm –“_

“Yeah, I know. But this is different. This is my sweet, innocent friend exposing herself to solar radiation, sub-zero temperatures, and a vacuum. It doesn’t get any harrowing than that.”

_“Didn’t I ever tell you, Emma? I enjoy inhospitable environments.”_

Emma sniffed. The comms panel caught a tear. “Swell time to develop a sense of humor.”

_“You know me. All about the humor.”_

“If you’re trying to prove something to me…” Emma forced herself not to meet the eyes burning into her back, “or _her_ …”

_“Really, Emma. You think too much.”_

Emma gave a sardonic bark of a laugh. “You’ve got balls, you know that?”

“If I do, they’re synthetic like the rest of me.” A long scraping sound came over the transmission. “The longer I’m out here the more inspired I am by the human condition, especially when so many odds are stacked against them. I never knew one could feel like this. I didn’t know _I_ could feel. Is this how you feel all the time, Emma?”

“I don’t get it. Is that sarcasm or a genuine scientific curiosity?”

“This is all very inspirational, don’t you think? Perhaps I’ll have a book and a movie adaptation to look forward to.”

This was so unlike the proper, reserved doctor. Emma was starting to worry. Perhaps the freezing temperatures where distorting her wiring. Emma grit her teeth. “You can’t take credit if you’re not _here_.”

_“I… I can take a little heat –“_

The line crackled and hissed. Emma looked to Ruby who shook her head.

_“It…conceivable fact that I was… and meant to service… but… status quo and… KSHHHHH!”_

When Emma realized it wasn’t the comms malfunctioning but Mary Margaret’s voice pattern crashing she nearly went into hysterics. Mary Margaret was slurring her words and stuttering. She was malfunctioning… dying… all alone out there without a friend or family.

“Can we get Leroy up here?” Emma said, voice strained with heartache. “He fixes hyperdrives. He can fix androids.”

_“… so it’s really not hopeless…"_

“Where the _fuck_ is Leroy?”

“Hang on, she’s got it!” Belle smiled over her readout. “The breach has been sealed!”

David clapped his hands and held them to his lips. He’d thank every scientific god in the universe if it meant that Mary Margaret came home safe – and there were a lot of them.

“Rumple,” Regina said swiftly, “engage the retractable arm and bring her in.”

“Already on the move.” Rumple’s eyes held the grid in front of him. He directed the arm’s course with small corrections, opening the clamps, and approached the area at an increased yet steady pace. “We’re within range. Belle…”

With a flick of switch, Belle transmitted the arm’s video to the transmission table. Ruby, David, Emma, and Regina surrounded the expanding three dimensional footage. They could make out the cooling orange seams of the hull.

“Nice job, Mary Margaret,” David observed.

“She knows her stuff,” Ruby agreed.

Regina grinned quietly in the glow of her once step-sister and former rival’s exquisite patch job.

Emma herself kept her excitement in check. Her eyes searched the area. Her heart beat frantically in her chest. “Rumple… where is she?”

Ruby snorted. “Probably playing hide and seek. I for one am not going to be thrilled about the bragging we’re about to get. I don’t care how superior her circuits – “

Emma interrupted with a growl. “Pan the video, Belle.”

Regina side-eyed Emma, but said nothing.

Belle manipulated the knob on her console. The footage fed through the holotable widened. There was debris everywhere. Damage from inside and outside the ship could be seen floating in the glow of the table – scrap metal, shards of transparisteel, a cabin chair. It was all lost to the vacuum of space. Nothing of value and nothing retrievable by any means based on their unpredictable trajectory. But not all of it could be so easily forgotten. A glimmer of value stood out amongst the space junk.

Emma secured a hand over her mouth to stifle the scream. The tears she thought dry welled and spilled over.

“Dear gods,” David gasped.

“She’s… she’s…” Ruby shook her head with a moan.

“Belle,” whispered Regina, diverting her eyes from the scene, “shut it down.”

“But, Commander –“

_“Shut it down!”_

The holoimage fizzed and winked out, but not before each and every one of them took away an image that would stay with them for years to come. It was already seared into their brains like a memory melded with steel. No one could shake it, the image of their friend floating away from them into outer space. Lifeless. Damaged. Out of reach.

Like the Vitruvian man, hands and legs splayed out, Mary Margaret would forever be as human as any sentient being. An automaton determined to understand her potential, she would be enshrined in the vacuum of outer space for a millennia. That was her legacy and it would be her resting place.

Regina turned her back on the sobbing. She could not bring herself to watch nor console. She could barely lift a finger to her own cheek and the tear that stained it. Her heart ached like it had never ached before. Mary Margaret… gone. Emma… circling the dark abyss of grief.

Regina was too late in saving Mary Margaret. She wanted to despite all the pain that woman and her father had caused her. But Regina was a logical being. She based her opinions on facts. She was not an emotional commander – or so she thought. And the one glaring fact remained: Mary Margaret was a better person – a better _human_ – than Leopold White.

Saving Emma was just as futile. No one could prevent the world from crumbling when it came to loss. Regina could not bring Mary Margaret back. She couldn’t even clone her without the synthetic material unique to her model. Regina knew loss and she knew the effects didn’t snuff out completely. She had lost much – her command and her reputation at a time when it seemed impossible to reclaim. She watched a lover die right before her eyes and felt the stab when her mother assumed responsibility. She had lost her father and the time she could have spent with him before the end. She had also lost Henry for a time, her heart nearly stopping when the newsreel reported the school’s explosion. She never really regained her breath until he was safe in her arms.

It would take more than sympathy to save Emma. It would take more than her love or Henry’s. It might take years or decades, but Regina would be damned if she stood by and did nothing.

Just not now. Fleeting the echo of a mourning main bridge, Regina flicked away at a drop dangling from her chin. She could not help Emma when she could not even help herself.

* * *

The shuttle cabin remained stark of sound save for the hum of the hyperdrive. Regina’s face was painted in the bluish-green glow from the nav-com and highlighted her urgency for conversation. To her right, sitting in the pilot’s chair, was Emma. Morose as ever, she stared out the viewport like she had since this assignment started. In fact, she’d been this way even before they set out from the _Storybrooke_.

Regina had kept a reasonable distance for six days. She went out of her way to avoid the bridge during Emma’s rotation. She had a feeling that if they ran into each other they might come to blows or exchange words that could never be taken back. The very thought of locking eyes with her sent Regina into a panic. Emma would blame her for Mary Margaret’s death and rightfully so. It had been a commander’s call that allowed this tragedy to occur. Regina’s call and no one else’s.

No one expected the young commander to hold her chin up and trudge on but she did. A few of them offered to cover while she spent time with Henry, but they were turned down. Emma may have been deeply troubled by her best friend’s death but she remained true to her duties.

For Regina, it had been _so_ hard to give Emma her space. A great deal had occurred since Emma came back into her life, including that kiss on Nal Korobi. Ever since then Regina found it hard to suppress her desire. She burned for Emma so deeply she thought she’d get consumed by the flames. She couldn’t stop staring or devising a plan to pin Emma down right there and have her way with her. Regina groaned internally, cheeks flaming and desire growing slick between her legs. It had been too long, much too long since she last felt touched by those green eyes much less engaged in a sexual liaison. Every inch of Regina’s skin felt teased by Emma’s very presence, her every glance and twitch of hand.

On the seventh day of avoiding Emma, Regina made a decision. Ruby and David had tried and failed to cheer up Emma. Alcohol wouldn’t numb it. Holodramas wouldn’t distract her. Henry couldn’t get through to her, even with the whispered tips from Regina. She kept her distance because as captain she needed to instill order. Now they were approaching a week without their usual brazen, toothy smile snarking Emma, and Regina had had enough.

Hence her order that Emma accompany her in a two crew capacity shuttle in the middle of outer space. There they would have plenty of opportunity to hash it out – blows and all. And it just so happened that Regina had an excuse for such an order.

Regina’s left brow furrowed at the blank readout. They had been scanning this sector for the past hour without a single indicator. She would have expected something, anything, to lend credence to what Emma saw – or _thought_ she saw. If there was a “threat to Earth and possibly all sentient life” then Regina wanted irrefutable evidence not a star chaser’s intuition.

Shaking her head at the utter futility, Regina droned sardonically, “See any intergalactic pinwheels of blue?”

With a sigh and roll of her eyes, Emma replied, “No, I don’t see any sign of the _anomaly_.”

“So you do have a voice? Hm, could have fooled me into a black hole – or is it an energy vortex?”

Emma shrugged. “You’ve made about five jokes about it, so it might as well be real.”

“I do not joke, dear. I make dry notes with irony.”

“Whatever.”

“Course correct: 23 degrees," Regina advised in her smooth captain’s voice before switching back. “And do come out with it. I am sick to death of waiting for you to go off like a thermal detonator.” At Emma’s quizzical stare, she explained, “Accuse me of what I’m guilty of. It’s what you’ve been dying to do all week.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Emma turned away but her tightening jaw muscles were evident.

“I am responsible for Mary Margaret’s death. Why can’t you just say it?”

“Why should I?” Emma’s head whipped around. Her restraint showed in a furrowed brow. “You’re doing a fine job of broadcasting it. In fact, you’re doing it with plenty of pride!”

“Thank gods,” Regina muttered, smoothing a hand over her forehead. “She comes out with it.” Her hand blindly waves in the air. “Do go on.”

“Have you ever thought that I might not want to talk about it? That even if I did, I wouldn’t want to with you? What in seven hells do you want from me?”

“I want you to get it out of your system. It has been eating away at you and it doesn’t take a medical degree to see that its killing you.”

Emma launched herself out of her chair. “What the fuck, Regina?! Are you asking to be decked right now?”

“It’s a healthy option compared to the sulking one.”

“You really want me to hit you?”

“No, I want you to talk to me. I want you to talk about her if that’s what makes this easier. Just because you lost someone dear to you doesn’t mean we never have to speak her name.”

“What if it just makes it worse?”

“How do you know if you’ve never tried?” Regina softened at the wearing down in Emma. She didn’t want to push hard enough to damage. She just needed to get through that thick skull. They’d made so much progress the last month that Regina could almost feel Emma’s heart under all that durasteel.

“Do not mistake my assertiveness for cruelty,” Regina murmured. She touched the pilot’s armrest, urging her to sit. Emma complied. “We escaped the enemy, but at great cost. I admit that as a captain and I’d like to think as friend.”

Emma’s eyes dropped to her knees. She held them against her chest as tightly as possible. “You hated her for so long. How can you even begin to understand?”

“I may not be a compassionate person but I do have compassion. Mary Margaret saved your life and the lives of my crew, so I will always be grateful to her. What’s more… I recognize what she stood for and what she had to overcome. Mary Margaret proved that an android could be more than the some of their parts, and she did so by dying for those she felt for.” Regina’s heart broke for the shoulders crumpling before her. Without a thought she bridged the distance between them and linked their fingers together. “And she felt so much that she _loved_.”

The pressure to Emma’s hand roused her from dark thoughts. She inhaled sharply and let it out in one long sigh. With relief she realized the weight on her chest had ebbed. It was still there but it didn’t press as hard. She felt so much better she could have cried. And she did.

Regina resigned herself to her co-pilot’s chair, but kept a steady grip on Emma’s hand. Her thumb smoothed over the knuckles that had fought against her and for her. Regina would fight in return, but not with fists – with gestures like the touch of her hand, so simple yet so provocative. She didn’t know how else to show her support.

Just when Emma hiccups faded and most of her tears dried up, a bleep alerted them to the navi-com.

“What?” Emma cleared the thickness from her throat and squinted at the screen. “Did the scanners pick something up?”

Regina looked for herself. “Something indeed. Steer us ahead, increased velocity, but keep your distance.”

“Keep my distance from what?” Emma asked. “There’s nothing out there.”

“Then you’re not seeing what I’m seeing.”

Emma looked up from the console to follow Regina’s gaze. Out the viewport amid the blackness a light twinkled.

Emma sat bolt upright in her seat. She pointed. “Did you see that? That wasn’t just me, right?”

“No, dear. I saw it too.”

“It’s a stationary object, whatever it is.” Emma examined the map and the blinking indicator. She quirked a brow at Regina. “Care to take a closer look, Commander?”

“That is why we’re here, Commander.”

Emma sighed, shaking her head as she guided their shuttle in. “I really don’t like being called that.”

Regina smirked.

“It makes me sound old.”

The smirk died just as soon as it appeared. Regina gaped with a stark expression. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Now it was Emma’s turn to show her amusement. Before the retort could leave her mouth, the nav-com lit up like New New New York Time’s Square.

“Christ in a carburetor,” mumbled Emma. Her eyes widened as the data streamed in. “Is this coming from the thing?”

“If by thing you mean energy vortex, then yes, I think it is.”

“So you believe me? You believe that I saw an energy vortex?”

Regina couldn’t help the warm smile. “I always believed you, Emma. I just prefer to have the evidence before going to the High Council about it.”

Nothing could wipe the grin off of Emma’s face. Her commander and – yes, to seven hells with it – her _love_ just admitted to believing in her. It certainly meant something coming from the stern, tough-as-nails captain. Getting praise from Regina was like pulling teeth from a saberwolf.

A flicker of light broke their intense gazing and drew them to the viewport. What had been a sliver of brightness was now expanded in the form of a swirling aperture of blue and white.

“My stars…” gasped Regina. She had never seen anything so beautiful. The blue arms that pinwheeled from its center held specks of silver that gave a friendly wink. Contained at the epicenter of this anomaly shined a light so bright it reflected in Regina’s awestruck eyes.

Beautiful… and yet so precarious. Regina closed her mouth, swallowing. “Emma, keep our distance in check. I don’t want to get pulled into any portals of unknown origin.”

Emma was already easing back on the thrusters. “You read my mind.”

The shuttle gave a subtle rocking. They eyed each other, holding their breath. Emma pushed the lever to its limit until they were at a standstill. Nevertheless, the vortex continued to grow, filling up their view screen.

Then, when they least expected it, the vortex swelled from the inside and gave birth to an intense wave of crackling light. The energy flowed from its epicenter, along its pinwheel arms, and outward.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” A trickle of unease slithered up Regina’s spine. “I think we should get out of here… Now.”

The urgency in Regina’s voice was not lost on Emma who was peering into the swell of electricity (or whatever) coming towards them. “I think you’re right,” she mumbled and swung the shuttle in the opposite direction.

“Faster.”

“Yeah.”

“ _Faster_.”

“Alright!”

“Emma…”

“Hold on to something!”

When the shockwave reached them their shuttle rocked with violent jerks. There was no time to grab hold of anything. They lost consciousness in an instant.

* * *

The first thing Emma noticed upon waking was the feel of cotton in her mouth. Her tongue was heavy and dry, leaving no room for breath. She coughed on reflex. Her tongue roved around the desert and searched for moisture. Through the gagging she managed to regain some saliva.

The next thing that occurred to Emma was the shuffling. The telltale pacing of regulation bootheels across the floor seemed unexpected considering the small dimensions of the shuttle. But then this was Commander Mills and if anyone could find a means to pace in tight quarters it was her.

“Finally.” Regina’s pacing ceased when she kneeled beside Emma. “I was about to bring out the paddles but then I realized they were probably fried.”

“Paddles? You were going to _shock_ me awake?” Before Emma could evaluate her captain’s sanity, she started to pan around the cockpit. They were shrouded in darkness, which did not bode well in their current environment. “Whaaat? Not good. Not good… _not good!”_

Regina watched Emma’s scrambling with measured amusement. “Don’t bother. I tried everything you’re about to do.”

“How do you know what I’m going to do?”

“I’m superior to you in every way.”

Emma snorted.

“And you are notoriously predictable,” Regina added.

“Well…” Emma went about flipping a few switches and when that didn’t work she stood over the navi-com. She shot it a determined glare. “I can guarantee you didn’t try one thing. And it’s definitely going to work.”

“Mm, and what is that?”

Emma formed a fist and raised it high. “… This.”

The dull _thwack_ did not have as much punch as the vulgar retort. Emma cradled her reddening hand to her chest and stomped the floor.

Now resting comfortably in her seat, Regina threw Emma a lazy raise of her brow. “You were saying?”

“You don’t have to be smug about it. We’re in this together if you haven’t noticed.”

“I have. You know what else I noticed? The tin can we currently reside is out of power which means no amenities like, oh, say oxygen? Heat? Forgive me, but politeness is the least of my worries at the moment.”

“So the energy wave knocked out communications and main power. Do you think it meant to do that?”

“Are you saying this vortex is sentient? Because if you are, please keep it to yourself. The High Council would discredit this entire operation and put you in a padded cell.”

Emma leaned against the console and folded her arms. “But it seems a bit odd that the vortex would go off just as we were drawing away from it. I mean, I wasn’t caught in an electrical storm last time I was here, but maybe it recognized me this time and wanted me to stick around.”

“Do you honestly hear yourself, Emma? You’re talking about this anomaly like it is self-aware. Like it retains memories. It is impossible.”

“I could respond with a pop culture reference, but I won’t.”

Regina tucked her chin and smiled. She had trained Emma oh so well. What were they calling it these days? Whipped?

“Let us examine the situation, shall we?”

Regina folded her hands so they formed a steeple. She stared out the viewport into outer space. A shiver ran through her at how close they were to that vacuum. The shuttle was mainly comprised of a few sheets of durasteel and some transparisteel for a windshield. One pinprick of a hole and they were done.

“Our investigation has led us to Outer Reach territory,” she began. “where the strange phenomena had last been recorded by you.”

Emma nodded. “And let’s not forget, I wasn’t the first. That recon mission is shrouded in as much mystery as the actual anomaly.

Regina’s head turned slightly, her eyes narrowed. “You never told me there was another recon mission.”

“Yeah… I think I did.”

“No, I would have remembered. And I remember everything.”

Emma showed her exasperation with a sigh. “Alright, well it doesn’t matter now. I don’t know much about the previous operation. Cosmofleet was pretty tight-lipped on the whole thing.”

“So you were never told if the scout witnessed the vortex let alone survived it?”

Emma shrugged.

Annoyance surged up in Regina so strong she could have spat. How good of Cosmofleet to send them into the unknown with partial knowledge. Yet another example of the High Council making decisions from the comfort of Earth. A tiger couldn’t change its stripes and neither would a “reformed” Cosmofleet.

“I know,” mumbled Emma. Her head hung low as she nibbled the inside of her cheek. “I’m sorry I dragged you back into this. When it’s over I promise I won’t come to you with another boneheaded operation.”

Regina soothed her pulsing temple with a touch of her fingers. Eyes falling closed, she shook her head. “No, no, it’s not that. You were fooled into this as much as I. Although I do gain some satisfaction from your admitting a boneheaded move. What worries me most is the reasoning behind the secrecy. Perhaps the High Council indeed knows more about this vortex than they are willing to admit. Perhaps the Raiders have more of a clue and are holding that over Cosmofleet. Perhaps… I don’t know. There could be a thousand and one explanations.”

“But we only need one.”

“Yes.”

“It is suspicious – that they’re working alongside the Raiders. Gives me shudders.”

Regina let out a dry chuckle. “It’s probably the temperature in here. We’re on reserve power for the next two hours.” When she noted the gooseflesh and subtle jittering, her expression softened. She nodded to the chair beside her. “Please sit down and conserve your oxygen.”

“Nah, I’m not ready for that yet.”

“ _Emma_ …”

“Cool your ion jets.” Emma made a beeline to the back of the cockpit. “I’ve got another idea.”

“Another?” Regina face went sheet white, but it wasn’t due to the chill. “Because your last idea went so well!”

“Shush.”

“Did you ‘ _shush’_ me?” Regina whirled in her chair. “Em –“ She frowned at the side panel being pried open. A pit formed in her stomach, all prickly and nerve-wracking. “Oh, please tell me you’re not going to do what I think you’re going to do.”

“If you’re thinking I’m rigging the RTG compartment to reverse the process and create more heat, then yes that is exactly what I am doing. And don’t tell me the dangers of ‘playing around’ with a nuclear battery. This is a survival situation. Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

Regina was already out of her chair with hands on her hips. “The U.S. Department of Energy and NASA have done _exactly_ what you are about to do and it has _never_ worked!”

“Well, we’re not in a science lab now, are we?”

“No, we are stranded in a broken-down shuttle and parsecs from the nearest outpost.” She flung a hand at the wiring tangled in Emma’s fingers. “One mistake and it could leak radiation everywhere!”

“Well, if you continue to use wild hand motions then we will have something to worry about.” Emma threw her an insufferable look. “Calm down. And trust me. I got this.”

“Oh, that is rich.”

“Give me a sec and I’ll have you as warm as a piece of buttered toa –“ Emma froze mid-sentence and gave herself a mental head slap. “Um, so yeah. Warm.”

Regina’s mouth formed something halfway between a smirk and gape. The back of her neck already felt the telltale sign of perspiration. She let it slide out of pure wickedness. Emma was probably berating herself more than she could even imagine. Emma was currently swabbing her forehead in rapidly cooling quarters, too. Regina cackled to herself. Let her sweat.

Fifteen minutes later than Emma calculated, they were sitting in their seats waiting for the generator to kick in. It’s low whir could barely be heard over their own chattering teeth. They resigned themselves to hugging their knees to their chests, sneaking looks to see who would cave first.

They didn’t speak for a while because neither wanted to state the obvious. No power meant no engines and no communications. They had no way of hailing the _Storybrooke_. And Emma’s jerry-rigged heater was showing no signs of doing what she said it would do.

Too disheartened to admit how screwed they were, Emma and Regina exchanged a look. It was neither hopeful nor affecting as they drifted through space with no living soul around them. Not for lightyears.


	8. Chapter 8

It was hours later and they were still biding in the darkness. The all-too-prevalent possibility of never seeing home again prevented them from sleeping a wink. There was nothing to do but wait for communications to come back online; or the further improbable: that they would be sighted by a passing vessel.

Emma had rigged the RTG compartment to allow some power to funnel into the air scrubbers and heating unit. The recirculated air tasted metallic on their tongue, but it was better than no air. In addition, the generator could not be adjusted to regulate how much heat pumped out, so the whole cabin became as hot as a noon day on Tume.

Having long since shed their jackets and boots, Emma and Regina sighed out their dread. The skin of their sleeveless arms stuck to their seats, making them feel icky and in need of a shower. Regina was the first to break the silence. She did so out of the need to alleviate the pressure on her conscience. Lately, she and Emma had been jumping over the hurdles of insecurities in their lives. They had mended their work relationship, rekindled their friendship, and approached the line Regina had refused to cross five years ago. There was no reason to keep up progress when they hadn’t discussed certain things.

“Things” being Regina’s personal history, which inevitably included her father. There were several reasons Regina never brought up her family but it became imperative to her emotional stability that she not mention her father with Emma. Over the years it became so easy to avoid the conversation she nearly forgot to mention it. In a way, she couldn’t appreciate Emma more for going gentle. She had inquired after the Mills family years ago when she was fresh out of academy and eager to please her rolemodel. That didn’t go over well with the captain who kept her private life locked up like Old World Alcatraz. Now that their dynamic had changed, Regina felt like she owed Emma the anecdotes of her past. If anyone understood how the past forms a person it was Emma.

So she talked of her father and as more and more flooded out the easier it became. Henry Mills and his fondness for horses soon led to Daniel and the glimmer of happiness Regina was able to experience before her mother snatched it away. The catharsis she gained through this, she realized, was contagious. By speaking of them, she was implying that one could speak of a perished loved one without forgetting them. They could say the name and feel as if they never left their side.

The stories kept Emma’s rapt attention and yet they did not encourage her to talk of Mary Margaret. It could have been the timing or the lack of courage, but she just didn’t seem keen on sharing at the moment.

“Hang on.” Emma sprung up with renewed vigor. “There’s an old rumor about this shuttle. Leroy is so proud of his brew he’s probably the one that stashed it.”

“Gods,” Regina muttered. “You do know alcohol raises body temperature, right?”

“I need a distraction from our impending doom. I’ll be sweating but I’ll be drunk.”

“Yes, because _that_ sounds sensible.”

When Emma returned, bottle in hand, she rose a brow at open hand. She handed over a plastic mug, careful to keep her amusement in check.

Emma lopped a leg over the chair’s arm and started pouring the first round. The haphazard pose ignited a memory that had Regina feeling a bit lighter. In some ways Emma had changed – her responsibilities and ability to prioritize, her openness to new opinions and opposing views, and, ultimately, her ability to accept herself for who she is, flaws and all.

But there was so much about her that remained the same. Regina liked to think of them as Emma’s more charismatic traits. A leg hanging over the chair just represented one small facet of a carefree attitude, but it was always the small things about Emma that drew Regina in.

Regina stared at the drink in her hand with an inquisitive turn of the mouth. “Just how old is this fire whiskey? Actually, don’t answer that.” She threw back the first shot. The liquid went down like reactor fuel. She coughed into her hand, eyes watering to tears.

“Good, huh?” Emma chuckled and threw her second shot down. “Not your cider, though.”

Regina threw her an appreciative wink that ended up being a cringe. Not her cider indeed. This fire whiskey could put down a Tumerian rhino.

Suddenly, Emma got to thinking about a certain ship’s counselor and how she let slip a rather juicy tidbit about the captain’s penchant for gambling.

A slow, rascally smile drew across Emma’s mouth. She licked her bottom lip of excess whiskey and leaned in. “Care to make a wager?”

The mug paused. Regina tilted her head a bit further than necessary. She was two shots in and scandalously uninhibited in her tank top and messy ponytail. What’s the harm?

Regina matched the approach by leaning over the arm of her chair, breasts straining against the thin material of her top. She drew a wet strand of hair back behind her ear before echoing, “Wager?”

“A challenge of sorts. I’ve got a stack of cards…” Emma tilted the heavy bottle side to side, “to go with our refreshment. Care to play a friendly game?”

“Friendly?” Regina smirked, a finger stroking her chin. “Why don’t we up the stakes, shall we? Ever play strip poker?”

Emma snorted. “Only when I’m drunk.”

The captain leaned forward with heavy eyes. “Then let’s get started.”

Emma didn’t even realize the bottle had been slipped from her grasp until she blinked. Regina brought up the fire whiskey and gestured for the other mug.

An hour later the generator was still pumping metallic oxygen and converting their cockpit to the temperature of the seventh hell (Regina’s words after shot number four). A friendly game of poker started out as such until Regina found a tell and exploited it with pleasure. She took it to such an extreme that resulted in an imbalanced clothing situation with she still in her tank and trousers while Emma was short both.

Sweltering and a tad tipsy, Emma breasted her cards to her white cotton bra. Her persistence in playing was her only streak. No way in this hella hot cockpit Regina was getting away without shedding a stitch of clothing. She didn’t care how many tales Regina spun from her time at academy.

“My father’s name was Henry.”

Emma perked up. “Yeah?”

“Mm-hm,” Regina hummed. “I see similarities between them, my father and our Henry. They’re both so gentle and thoughtful. So readily open to forgiveness. So similar,” she whispered to herself more than Emma. “Though my father lacked Henry’s stubbornness, he indulged my every whim. He was frightfully lenient.”

“Was?”

“He passed away a long time ago.”

Emma’s nod held every understanding of a life without someone to call, 'Dad.'

“He was so forgiving,” Regina echoed. “He might well have granted mercy for my having killed him.”

“You… what?”

“Long story. For another time. Preferably sober.”

“Sorry but you can’t just hang the fact that you killed your father out like that and expect me to ignore it.”

Regina exhaled long and low. She cooled the side of her face by pressing her mug to it. Everything seemed cool but her – the mug, the chair, even her wrist chrono. Flashes of memory worked its way through her exterior and made her brittle and reactive.

When she eventually gathered enough courage, the story unraveled like a painfully self-aware biographic. Every mention of Cora’s name stabbed her as it had that day in her parents bedroom. The flight seat started to take on the give of a mattress, the feel of a comforter. She remembered the ice in her mother’s eyes when she reported that Regina would only be a distraction to Henry’s recovery.

It all happened so long ago but it still happened and Regina still felt the effects. It proved just how hard it was to carry grief alone.

The end of her story dragged off into the stale air around them. Emma looked down in her lap, tracing the lip of her mug with her finger. When she said it she couldn’t take it back. Regina would know exactly what she meant. “I owe you an apology.”

Regina continued to divert her gaze as if doubting she heard. She knew she had to meet those eyes to believe it. When she did, her lips parted, straining for a response. “I… I gave you the space you needed. I don’t claim to understand how you process grief, but in my experience it is most unhelpful to be surrounded. The…” Regina’s expression contorted at the words, “… the ‘sorry for your loss’ speeches never put me at ease. They simply ostracized me –“

“Regina, I’m sorry for the things I said.” The rushed declaration sobered Emma upright. “It’s not fair that you had to take my attitude all those years. After the compassion you’ve shown me lately I’ve returned the favor with disrespect.”

“I put up with your attitude all those years because I chose to. And you don’t have to apologize for what you said that day. You just lost your best friend.”

“You were not to blame,” Emma stated with a pleading look. “I know that. It was a stupid idea to go against the only other person who has accepted Mary Margaret for what she stood for, not for what was under her skin.”

Regina made light of it with a small chuckle. “It was hardly your brightest idea.”

“Neither was that last hand you played,” Emma shot back.

“You’re one to talk, dear.” Regina subsequently inspected the bra and panties with a darkened gaze. “You have very little left to bargain with.”

The pout was sufficient enough for the loss sustained and yet Emma took it further. She sulked back into her chair, arms crossed over her breasts, and “humphing” at a corner.

Grin in place, Regina patted her lap. “Why don’t you come here and I’ll soothe the sting of defeat.”

Emma side-eyed her. She scrutinized the deal with a wary furrow of her brow and a warmth of interest between her legs. Emma should have known. Kathryn had warned her. She was a goner before the first hand started. She was pretty sure of it the very day they met.

* * *

Sometime later – though not late enough for them to succumb to asphyxiation and heat stroke – Emma roused from sleep. The steady chirp in her ear annoyed her so much she had to pry open an eye. The first thing she saw nearly stilled her heart. No creature looked half as stunning as the woman strewn underneath her. All long, naked legs and toned abs, Regina looked like a goddess. She looked just as powerful and terrifying to Emma without the uniform – hells, without any clothes.

Emma recalled the offer proposed to her in soothing a blow of a loss and her swiftness in accepting it. Their competition was as forgotten as the rest of Regina’s clothing on the floor. Somewhere between a tentative kiss and Emma’s waking, she had ended up in the captain’s lap with several blushing marks on her neck and chest.

The persistent chirping drew Emma to the navi-com. A green light flashed, signaled a return to power and …

Emma nearly fell out of her chair. She had to suppress her excitement at the incoming message. For however long they’ve been hailed, Emma wasn’t about to waste any more time.

Before rising, she spared a glance at the lacy bra and panties. Emma smirked at her fortune, being just as naked and draped in the famous commander’s lap.

With a sigh, she carefully divested an arm from around her shoulder and slipped out from Regina’s lap.

Emma answered the hail with an eager, “Hello? Anyone there?”

 _“Emma!”_ came the screeching response. A familiar face was projected from the console.

“Ruby! Blast, it’s good to hear your voice. How did you find us?”

_“David was using his scanner again – I could tell a dirty joke about that but I don’t want to waste your precious time.”_

“Please.”

_“So he was doing his scanning thing and picked up a strange energy surge in this area. We followed it and presto! Your rescue carriage awaits!”_

Emma couldn’t help the giddy chuckle. “Thank gods for David and his scanner. I didn’t think we had a snowball’s chance in a supernova of getting out of this one.”

_“You definitely owe him big for this. Hey, how’s Regina? Still alive and snarking?”_

Emma cocked her hip out with a little smirk. “Do you have to ask?”

Whatever Ruby was about to say next got lodged in her throat. Her eyes caught something that made her eyebrows soar.

“Huh? Wha -?” Emma followed her gaze down to the bra and panties and let out a squeal.

 _“Damn, Emma!”_ Ruby’s laughter echoed over the radio waves as Emma ducked under the console. Nothing but her head showed in the holo transmission. Nevertheless, Ruby had a near photographic memory and a spark of wickedness as well. _“Has someone been doing calculations with the captain?”_

“Aaah. Haha. Funny story. You see… the power got fried so I rigged the RTG and it got a little steamy – I mean, hot – shit, no, _warm_ as in _temperature_. Yeah.”

_“Well, if it was so steamy in there why didn’t you crack a window?”_

Emma rolled her eyes.

“Emma?”

The husky croak from the captain sparked a tingle across her skin. Emma’s eyes widened when she realized they were not alone, but by then it was too late.

_“Stellar calculations, Em!”_

“What is that?” Regina rose from her chair and blinked through the grogginess. “Is that… a holo?!”

There was a slap of flesh as Regina dropped to the floor on all fours, eyes shut in mortification.

_“I bet all the portholes are fogged.”_

“Ruby!”

“Lieutenant Commander Lucas!”

* * *

“Hey, that’s cheating!”

“Hey, that’s the rules.”

“You could be nicer.”

“I get to the point.”

“That’s called being blunt.” Emma shook her head despairingly. “Regina taught you chess, didn’t she?”

“Mm-hm.” Henry’s expression didn’t change as his eyes roamed across the board. “We started a year ago. She said it gave us a chance to socialize and get away from video games.” His head finally rose to display the suffering of a long waged battle. “I don’t see the difference.”

“There’s no doubt about it. You’re my kid.”

He snorted and made his move. ”Check.”

“Aw, seriously?”

“That’s playing by the rules, Ma.”

“You and your rules.” Emma sulked over her remaining options. “Regina’s poisoning you.”

“Now you’re just being a sore loser.”

She lightly swat him upside the head. “Don’t jump the blaster. I haven’t lost yet!”

Henry sat back and crossed his arms. He allowed her ample time to get out of her corner. Regina was a good teacher in that she didn’t just tutor him on rules. She also taught him about respecting your opponent – even if that opponent was his whiner of a parent.

Emma’s eyes were fixed to her knight. She propped her elbow on her knee and went about the cracking of her knuckles.

Henry finally broke the silence with a conversational tone. “Regina’s dad played chess. He’s the one who taught her how to play.”

As Emma’s attention left the game, Henry’s returned. She studied him for a moment, taking in the wispy hair around his ears, the clean, crisp clothes, and the content aura surrounding him. A small yet appreciative warm blossomed in her chest. She smiled.

“Oh, yeah?”

He nodded.

A metallic rapping interrupted them. Without tearing herself away, Emma shouted, “Come in!”

The hatch hissed open and standing in the entryway was a lanky female in long shiny black hair and combat boots. Her monochromatic wardrobe complete with black jacket, black chrome clasps, and black trousers set her apart from the gray and yellow Cosmofleet colors seen onboard.

“Ren!”

“Well, if it isn’t the savior,” Ren drawled.

Emma cocked her head. “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?”

“I wasn’t talking to you. Henry here is my savior. He saved me from a wicked solar storm of an encounter with Regina.”

“She’s right,” Henry said matter-of-factly. “I’ve come to anticipate Regina’s moods. Ever since she became mayor she comes home with this really weird look on her face, like she’s extremely annoyed but trying to hold it in.” He shrugged. “Comes with the territory.”

“I thought _I_ annoyed her enough.” Emma drew a shocked expression. “What in seven hells has Misthaven screwed up that I haven’t already?”

Henry shrugged. “Budget? Her lunch order? Delegation?"

“Ah, the old paperwork…”

Ren snorted. “Your child has good ears. And a specific vocabulary.”

“Yeah, we can thank Regina for that.”

“Speaking of,” Henry rose from the table and slipped by Ren, “I’m supposed to give Regina an update on my homework. She only agreed to bring me along on your secret mission because quote, ‘You’re much safer with me and I am a far better tutor than those menial, underpaid instructors at Misthaven Middle.’”

“My heart goes out to you, kid.”

“Yeah,” Henry’s voice echoed from the corridor as he left, “I can really feel your sympathy.”

Emma chuckled and turned to Ren. “Hey, so what brings you to the _Storybrooke_?”

“Caught a ride from our favorite smuggler.”

“Killian.”

“The guy can’t spend a few days away from your science officer,” Ren quipped with a roll of her eyes. “I was glad to board the _Storybrooke_ in spite our rocky history. If I have to spend more minute listening to those two ogle each other over hologram…”

“I’m sure Regina will be _thrilled_ to see you.”

“Hey, Regina and I are… I wouldn’t say as close as two oppositely charged particles but we’re on good terms.”

“Nice to know. Regina having friends is a bit unusual to hear.”

Ren shot her a reprimanding eye. “You’ve been away for a while. People change.”

“So I hear. Speaking of being away, I have a bone to pick with you.” Emma cocked her head in a severe manner. “I hear you’ve picked up a beau of late. What in seven hells, Ren? You’re priority was to watch over Henry and Regina, not knock boots with the uncle!”

“Whoa, slow down partner.” Ren raised her hands. “In my defense, August was the one who came onto me.”

“I don’t want the details. Please. I just want an explanation. I gave you this assignment because I trust you and because you seemed well suited to the job.”

“Heartless and distant, you mean.”

Emma sighed. “I don’t mean it like _that_. A well-trained spy like yourself should have no trouble observing from afar. Last time I checked, they don’t go fraternizing with _my_ _best friend_.”

“First off,” Ren held up a finger, expression as firm as durasteel, “I had no trouble observing from afar, but there’s only so much I could do. I needed to get closer. August was the only one besides yourself who knew Regina and Henry best. I needed information in order to protect them. And don’t worry, she doesn’t know you sent me to spy on her. August has been sworn to secrecy.”

“When exactly did this start between you and him?”

“Why do you have to say it like that? Really, Emma. I’m not some –“

“You’re not,” Emma assured vehemently. “I don’t think of you that way. I’m just curious. August is my friend and we haven’t transmitted lately. Probably, definitely my fault.”

“Well, we were just friends in the beginning. He cares about Regina and Henry as much as you, so he was more than willing to lend his assistance. In any case, we grew close over the years and developed a sort of… thing.”

“Thing?”

“I’m not a romantic, Emma. Come on.”

Chuckling, Emma held up a hand. “Okay, you’re off the hook.”

“I thought you’d appreciate the initiative. They are your family after all.”

“You’re absolutely right. And it was wrong of me to get on your case without getting the full story. I’m sorry.”

Ren quirked a suspicious brow. “When you say off the hook…”

“You don’t have to follow them around. You’re job is done and…” Emma scratched her brow with an air of awkwardness, “and if you want to continue your thing with August, I won’t stop you.”

“I’d say thank you, but it’s not like I need your approval. So if my job is done, does that mean you’re sticking around for good? Because if this is just a short-term thing I swear to gods, Emma, I’m going to take you in a choke hold. I may not be the softest, but I like the kid and Regina’s grown on me. So if you screw this up again –“

“Hang on, don’t get your harness in a twist! I swear on Henry’s life I’m staying this time – for him and for Regina.”

Ren smirked and started a long nod. “Oh, I see how it is –“

A finger cut her off. “That is not up for discussion. As I said, you’re off the hook. Don’t push it.”

“Fair enough. So shall we get down to the business I came here for?”

Emma shrugged and leaned back on the bed. She gestured for Ren to take a seat at her desk chair. “Let’s hear it.”

* * *

After a successful lecture on matrices, vectors, and arrays – with the unnecessary anecdotes from David – Henry was delegated to his own console on the main bridge. Far be it from Regina to dismiss bright minds from her presence. In order for Henry to gain superior education he must learn from outside the classroom. What better experience in interstellar navigation than on the bridge of the _Storybrooke_?

As Regina sat in her captain’s chair, Leroy gave his report of ship status. She listened with half an ear and a preferential eye on Henry. Leroy had been droning on for the past half hour and soon or later she was going to wish for a salvo of meteoroids. All the schematics Leroy prepared made her go cross-eyed. She’d rather he just get to the point and account for ship readiness in less than a few sentences. But being commander meant she had to hear him out. If her years as mayor taught her anything it was to cooperate first and berate later. Give them a false sense of importance before breaking their egos.

But in Leroy’s case, he actually deserved praise. Based on the details she caught he appeared to have the _Storybrooke_ in top condition and ready for hyperspace.

“Well it seems like you have outdone yourself, Mr. Leroy.” Regina handed his evidence over with a smile.

Leroy rose on the balls of his feet, fingers tapping excitedly on the tablet. “Have I outdone myself enough for new drive parts?”

“We shall see.” At his extended stare she added, “It’s a maybe. Now be dismissed.”

As the chief engineer departed, David approached with a datapad in hand.

“Just the man I wanted to see.” Regina held out her hand and received the tablet. She gave it a preliminary look as she went on. “Has Emma relayed the data our shuttle recorded at the time of the incident?”

“Um, yes.”

The uncertain tone caused Regina’s eyes to flick up. David’s hands were crossed in front of him and he was worrying at his lip.

“You look rather anxious. Should I be worried, David, or is this yet another example of your new personality?”

“New personality?”

Regina couldn’t help the coy smile. “Since you started dating the pirate.”

David frowned and gave scoff that came out as more of a chuckle. “No, ma’am. I mean no, captain.”

“At ease, Lieutenant. You’re not up for court marshal just because you fell head over boots for someone of dubious credentials.”

“I’m not?”

“Not by your commander. But take it from me and keep your private life where it is.”

David’s head rose in a slow nod. He always knew Regina was a private person but for her to _admit_ that she had one was cause for surprise. Of course, the fact that her private life consisted of Emma and Henry came as no shock to anyone on the _Storybrooke_.

A loud sigh broke through David’s thoughts. He turned to Regina who was staring boringly back. “Ah, yes. The data.”

“Yes, the data. Have you processed it?”

“It’s… a bit difficult to process.”

“You graduated from Cosmofleet’s Science Academy with top marks. I’m sure you are capable of figuring it out.”

“I could with the right equipment. The nav-com’s memory bank wasn’t fried enough to destroy the whole thing, but just enough to make it near impossible to decipher. I can’t make sense of it with what we have in the lab. _Storybrooke_ just doesn’t have the technology.”

“We may be able to help with that,” came a voice.

Emma and Ren approached from the lift with a spring of anticipation in their step.

Regina furrowed a brow. “If you brought black market technology onto my ship…”

“No,” Emma assured, “but I know someone who is in possession of questionably legal tech. Well, know _of_ someone.”

“Please,” groaned Regina, head shaking in utter defeat, “please tell me it’s not another pirate.”

Emma snorted. “Oh, it is _much_ worse than that.”

* * *

The Mid Rim got its name for its location between the Outer Reach and the Sol Sector. It consisted of various metropolitan worlds habitable by humanoids. One of these was Valeria. The class 7 gas giant had no surface, just a complex mixture of gases including fluorine, methane, and ammonia. One level of its atmosphere was comprised entirely of oxygen and was therefore made fit for oxygen breathing life forms.

Valeria’s chief inhabitants – humans – spent decades making life in the clouds habitable. They built floating castles and palaces, platforms and bridges, commercial ports as well as private ports.

One floating city went by the name of Valerian City, the capital of Valeria. When the _Storybrooke_ arrived, it glided through the wispy clouds and sunlight and settle gently on the giant landing platform.

This was not only where Ren led them but the Raiders. They sought to reach out to Emma through Ren with the intention of meeting her and her crew. Her contact did not give away much except that they had knowledge of Emma’s mission in the Outer Reaches and wished to share intel.

Upon hearing the news, Emma was ready to turn the invitation down but David had made it known how underequipped they were to process their data. Luck was on their side as Valeria boasted all the finest technology. It may not be the hub of influence that Earth was, but it certainly had a line on galactic trading.

As commander, Regina made the decision. It would seem a missed opportunity if they were to turn down the invitation. The Raiders had not threatened or bribed them. Despite their rocky history, Ren’s contact was offering their assistance. No strings attached, as far as Regina could tell.

The _Storybrooke_ was left in the capable hands of Leroy and all other personnel under the rank of senior officer. He and his clever team of engineers were able to limp the ship to their destination, but their stand at Nal Korobi had left it a bit shaken up.

While the rest of the crew stayed on board to run diagnostics, Regina and her officers made their way to Valerian City. They were thankful to leave behind their uniforms and come in civilian clothing. Walking side-by-side and brushing hands, Emma and Regina were clad informally in jeans, a shirt, and their high collared jackets. Killian wore his usual ensemble of black leather while David preferred low-key flannel and jeans. Rumple himself jumped at the chance to get into his crocodile skin jacket – a memento of his recent hunting trip to Lacerta. Beside him, Belle smiled at the way her dress fluttered in Valeria’s winds and how the blue matched the city’s walls.

Lagging behind was Ruby, looking all the rage in her leggings and loose tunic, and Henry fitted into the first thing he grabbed at the wee hours of the morning.

Killian breathed in deeply through his nose. “If I’ve ever smelled anything as oxygen-rich as this, you can call me a modest citizen.”

“Quite pure,” David agreed from beside him.

Emma gaped at him. “You did not just bring an atmospheric reader on this trip.”

Indeed, where everyone else inspected with their noses to the air, David had his burrowed down to a hand-held atmospheric reader.

“These results are astonishing!” he exclaimed. “I don’t think these percentages were breathed on Earth during the time of Homo heidelbergensis!”

Killian brought him in with an arm around his shoulder. “Yes, yes, that’s fascinating. But look at the view!”

When David finally abandoned his tech he was rewarded with a magnificent sight. The enormous structure before them was all curves and no harsh edges. It was polished to a smooth pale blue as where the transparisteel windows reflecting the clouds. As he craned his neck he could see story upon story of panoramic windows and their residents walking the hallways. Further still, sky bridges connected one main structure to the next like a giant web of a city.

“Whoa…”

Killian nodded. “Better through the eyes than the tool, aye?”

“Aye,” David echoed in awe.

The company entered through the doors, leaving the blanket of clouds for a brightly lit lobby. The floors were polished to a shine and the plethora of windows allowed daylight to reflect off every surface. The vaulted ceiling allowed them a view of just several levels of the high-rise building.

A young man approached, his long buttoned tunic flapping to his brisk pace. He appeared to be in his late twenties and not in the least important.

“Welcome travellers. My name is William. How may I be of assistance?”

“Hello,” Regina replied in her get-down-to-business tone. “I am Commander Regina Mills of the starship _Storybrooke_. My crew and I are here to see a man by the name of Caine.”

The man broke out into a warm smile. “Ah, yes. That would be I. Ren is an old friend of mine and she was kind enough to relay the summons.”

“My mistake.” Regina matched his warmth with a smile of her own and shook his hand. “May I introduce my senior officers…”

As she listed off everyone’s names and ranks, William shook each of their hands. Smiles were exchanged and compliments on the beautiful architecture were made. Just as Henry had put his two cents in about a curious spire outside, they were joined by another.

The woman’s boot heels struck the floor with purpose. Her silver grey pantsuit had a cut that gave away no curves or muscle and concealed everything but her hands and a round face. Her ink black hair was shortly cropped and just as androgynous as the suit. The ensemble gave her a stiff appearance which complimented her ironclad demeanor. Emma, herself, was thinking something along the lines of “icy bitch queen.”

William presented her with another one of his smiles. “This is Moira Caine.”

Regina stretched out her hand. “Mrs. Caine.”

Moira emitted something between a grunt and a chuckle. “Oh, please. I would not touch this man’s closet with a ten foot spanner. Messy as the quarry pits on Famos Minor.” She cast him a look that was vaguely affectionate. “He’s my brother.”

“Good thing,” William said with a bark of laughter, “otherwise she’d throw everything to the garbage compacter. Not that _things_ haven’t gone missing in the past.”

Emma panned between them with a raised a brow. William’s milky brown skin tone set him apart from his sister’s ash white complexion.

“I’m _adopted_.” Moira supplied a degree of severity into the word.

William shifted on his feet. “Caine is our mother’s name,” he explained animatedly, to ease the tension. “She raised us since we were young – after our father left to join the Freedom Raiders. She believed so much in his betrayal of the Commonwealth, that she forbade us to ask of him. I never believed it though.”

Moira’s eyes shot skyward. “My brother is loyal to a fault.”

“Though I was young, I still remember the arguments. My father tried to convince her of the ills surrounding the government. His concerns lied with his family. He wanted to protect us. Mother would not hear of it, so she exiled him. He had no one else to turn to save the Freedom Raiders.”

“Charming story,” said Regina.

“Moira and I graduated from the fleet with the sole intention of tracking him down.”

“Correction,” Moria cut in, “ _your_ intention. You guilt-tripped me into it.”

“As I was saying,” he cast her an irate look, “ _Moira and I_ graduated and went in search of our father. It wasn’t easy. The Raiders may be known to frequent the Outer Reaches but it is a great and vast area of space. They move their base from one system to the next, never staying in one location long. We only found him after Admiral George had been deposed and the Raiders granted clemency. I suppose it was a little easier to find him when there was no reason to hide.”

Regina listened with heightened interest. There was more than met the eye with these two siblings. Based on the short story, they had not been raised amongst Raiders. And although they had grown up without a father, they clearly possessed a boundless love for him. No obstacle wide enough could keep them apart. They seemed intent on meeting this man who betrayed his government. Well, at least _one_ of them did.

“Ren said that the invitation came on behalf of current Raider management. Just how did you come to lead?” she asked. “I find it hard to believe that Anderson would hand over the reigns to two… youthful individuals.”

“We replaced our father of course.” William’s grin then waned. His expression clouded. “That is, following his death.”

Emma’s mouth fell open. “Your dad’s Zane Anderson?!”

Moira’s eyes narrowed coolly. “ _Commander_ Zane Anderson.”

“Oh, he got a promotion did he?”

Although Emma meant no harm, Moira took it with appall. “An honorary title bestowed on him for acting with good conscience. Unlike the fleet who didn’t have the blasted balls.”

William touched her arm and she went completely still. Her chin turned down and towards him, a sign of acknowledgement but an unwilliness to back down outright.

“It was a promotion befitting of his sacrifice,” she continued. “Not many would turn their back on their planet and become ostracized by their family on top of it.”

Emma felt Regina’s presence as if she was a second skin. “I fully agree,” she replied. “They deserve every recognition in the books.”

Regina’s heart warmed to the compliment. For all the undue behavior she had taken from her first officer over the years, this certainly made up for it. Not that making out together as they had in the shuttle didn’t achieve the same.

Emma scratched her chin, eyes shifting from one person to the next. If no one else was going to ask, then she would. “You mentioned Anderson had died. I’m very sorry for your loss.” She chewed the inside of her cheek a moment before coming out with it. “May I ask how he died?”

William nodded. “Thank you for your condolences. As for his death, he… well, there is no simple way of saying this but he went missing in the field. He was on a recon mission for the fleet. Despite his age and rank he insisted on going on solo assignments. He liked the echo of an empty shuttle,” William quipped with a solemn chuckle. “We lost communications not long after he arrived at the rendezvous point.”

“You said he was running a mission for Cosmofleet?” Regina asked, frowning.

Moira clarified, “Top secret.”

“That explains our mystery pilot.” At the Caine’s puzzled features, Emma explained. “I was brought in by Cosmofleet to investigate the anomaly.”

Moira stared idly, tapping a finger on her hip. “Yes, we are aware.”

“Well, _I_ wasn’t aware that your father led the first mission. I don’t understand why the fleet would leave that out. Everyone there knows we’ve met on several occasions.”

“They probably thought you wouldn’t have accepted the mission if you knew he was killed in the line of duty.”

Emma was starting to think this woman glossed over any sensitive matter, including the passing of her own father. She crossed her arms defensively and narrowed her eyes. “I’m no coward. I just don’t like being lied to.”

“How do you know what you would or would not have done given the truth? Are you so complimentary of your ego that you go blindly into the unknown?”

“ _Moira_ ,” William chastised under his breath. “That is why she is the Chosen One. Her willingness to sacrifice has done a service to a great many people of this galaxy.” He turned to Emma. “And my sister and I are grateful to you.”

Moira grunted.

Emma’s jaw tightened.

“Well,” Regina chirped, “now that introductions have been made, shall we proceed to a conference?”

“I had hoped we could leave the serious talk for tomorrow.” William opened his arms in a show of hospitality. “You have traveled a long way. I’m sure you would prefer to rest for the day. We can start fresh in the morning and discuss our plans for galaxy domination then.”

Regina didn’t blink. His chuckle and making light of serious matters did not stir anything close to amusement in her. She inclined her head in a somber manner. “Very well.”

“Hold up.” Emma scolded Regina with a look. She didn’t appreciate how her opinion on the matter was left out – again. It was all fine and good that Regina accepted the invite to Valeria on the crew’s behalf, but Emma wanted answers and she wanted them now. “We flew thousands of lightyears to get here, yes, but we are also in possession of vital intelligence. This data could be our only line of defense if that anomaly spits out evil from another galaxy. We have no way of deciphering it and you seem to be the only people who can.”

Moira’s cool gaze didn’t waver. “Perhaps it is best to walk before we run, Emma Swan. We have only just met, after all.”

Satisfaction brightened Regina’s expression in a grin. She bowed her head. “Wise words, Ms. Caine.”

“Moira, please.”

Emma couldn’t get her eyes to roll any harder. By the time she registered the touch to her elbow, Regina was already speaking.

“It is settled then. We are ever so grateful for your assistance. It is especially reassuring…”

Emma tuned out the rest. She had been to this show before, the little performance Regina puts on for people of ‘importance.’ But for all Emma knew Regina could have been genuine. Emma didn’t know either way. She could not pay attention in lieu of the blatant disregard for her opinion.

* * *

The next day was accompanied with groggy recollections and awkward good mornings. Regina woke to an unfamiliar bed and panicked for a few seconds before realizing where she was. Her heart rate returned to normal when she heard Henry’s soft footsteps outside her bedroom.

Emma roused from a sleepless night of tossing and turning. When she cracked her eyes open to the blazing dawn she felt her skin crawl. The shower may have cleansed her of the sweat but not the nightmares.

Henry slept more peacefully than anyone. He hadn’t experienced adventure like this since he was six-years-old and still under the sole guardianship of Emma. Now it was four years later, he had two moms, and he was siting in a luxury suite drinking Valerian orange juice. Let the adventure begin!

Henry took advantage of the early morning light and examined their lodgings. Upon arriving, they were told the entire suite was reserved for their use only. The common room contained a living room with sofas and a holoscreen, and a kitchenette and dinning room. There were three adjoining bedrooms, one master appropriated by Regina and the other two for Emma and Henry. The main feature, however, lied with the view. Panels of floor-to-ceiling transparisteel windows made up the entire eastern wall of the common room. The view from their level was breathtaking. Henry would have been captivated by the skyscrapers and early morning commuters, but his stomach was making demands and he was a Swan after all.

Upon waking, he went straight to the fridge and then made a beeline for the entertainment center. William had said that the suite provided limitless games and thousands of holoprograms.

By the third hologame, Henry heard the sound of his other roommates. Emma and Regina greeted him separately but with equal warmth. They were acting a bit strange, but then these were strange times. They were living in a cloud city at the invitation of the Freedom Raiders… it took some getting used to.

After a quick breakfast, Emma and Regina left Henry to his limitless entertainment for business. They walked the hallways side by side more as pleasant colleagues than anything else they had become in the last 48 hours. Things may have changed, but they still hadn’t put a label to what they were to each other.

They followed the hallway around a bend lit by a panoramic view of the sunrise. Layer upon layer of cumulous clouds stretched into the distance. Landing pads, bridges, and sky towers that hovered in the atmosphere and didn’t seem to be rooted to any particular surface. Their eyes followed the scenery until they saw something that made them halt in their tracks.

“Well throw me out an airlock,” Emma muttered with a growing smile. “Valentino!”

The lumbering ex-Marine came up to them with a wide grin. He opened his arms and swallowed Emma in an embrace of muscle and charm.

“Don’t say that too loudly or the captain here will make it happen.”

Regina came up behind Emma and shook his hand with a manner of professionalism and warmth. “I haven’t threatened her with airlocks in months.”

Emma eyed her. “Try weeks, Regina.”

A blonde approached. “Still bickering each other into a black hole I see.”

“Clarke, too? Is this planet making a business of resurrecting the dead?”

A squeak of wheels approached. “Not quite.”

Regina’s breath hitched at the sight of the wheelchair. She tilted her head and greeted softly, “Valdez.”

“The one and only!”

“But shorter,” Valentino added with a crack of a smile.

The spark of rage caused Valdez to step in before Regina went off on the man. “Shorter, definitely, but not at a loss of brains.” He cast a sideways glance at Valentino. “You on the other hand…”

Valentino jerked a thumb at him. “Look at this guy. Grew some stones while you were away, hasn’t he?”

“We thought you were dead.” Emma literally scratched her head, trying to grasp the thriving presence of three crew members once thought dead. “What in seven hells?”

Regina raised brow. “I concur with Emma – minus the profanity. Have you been here this whole time?”

Valentino answered. “Ever since the Raiders made Valeria their base of operations. So… three years?”

“Three years, seven months, and six days to be exact,” Valdez piped up.

“Smart ass.”

Clarke punched Valentino’s meaty shoulder. “Saved your ass a few times, as well.”

“True, true.” He turned back to Emma and Regina who were still sporting perplexing looks. “It’s a long story,” he explained. “Miranda should tell it, though. She’s good at telling long stories.”

“Maybe when they’re in a different language.” Clarke snorted and explained for Emma’s and Regina’s benefit, “Thanks to the Raiders hospitality and limitless resources, I’m now fluent in over twenty galactic languages.”

Emma just drew a blank. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you guys are alive.”

“It’s something strange alright,” Valdez noted with an adjustment of his glasses. "But they were flesh wounds, after all."

“I never thought we’d all be together again,” Clarke commented, “and at the Raider’s invitation, no less.”

“Ain’t it an unexpected turn of events?” Valentino spread his arms out in true romping fashion. “Of all the shit going down lately you all made it out here to see us – alive!”

Regina hardly blinked an eye at the vulgarity. This sure was Valentino all right.

Still reeling from the news, Emma nodded. “It’s definitely a reunion.”

William showed up then with the same outgoing spring in his step he’d displayed the day before. “If you are all ready to begin, we can convene in the nearest conference room.”

Emma followed after, muttering to Regina from the side of her mouth. “They have _conference_ _rooms_?”

Clarke overheard and replied under breath, “Brave new world.”

“Are you guys close with the Caines?”

“They knew our rapport with Anderson.” At Regina’s narrowed eyes, she elaborated. “Anderson was the one who offered us a place here. He gave us jobs, a home, respect… the Caines have done the same. When we heard they were bringing you and Emma into the fold, we wanted to be involved. We wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“Well when you have an ex-Marine by the name of Johnny Valentino on your side…”

Clarke’s smile was wide and her eyes suggesting something of a twinkle. “Exactly.”

They gathered in a modest, windowless room. The white walls helped brighten the space, but maybe too much as Emma was squinting to adjust her vision. At the center of the room was large round table. The surface had a transparent sheen to it. No chairs, though.

The minute the hatch sealed shut Regina spoke. “May I be frank?”

William regarded her passively. “Of course.”

She inhaled deeply through her nose and let it out with a rush. It was as if she had been holding it in for ages. “When I first learned of the Raiders’ summoning my crew and I, I was suspicious. As I’m sure you’ve done you’re research, you know that I do not trust easily. I turned my back on Cosmofleet and became a terrorist in their eyes. I betrayed my people to help your cause.”

When Regina’s chin dipped, a veil slipped down her face, revealing the carefully repressed scars. Her voice, when it spoke again, lowered unmistakably.

“I can turn my back on you just as easily. If you’ve done your research, you know I do not take kindly to those that harm people closest to me. So before this goes any further, know this: if you trick, threaten, or hurt anyone I love you will pay so dearly you will not be able to transmit a final response.”

Emma’s eyebrows crinkled into her forehead. She was used to witnessing Regina’s fierce protectiveness but not when it concerned herself. At least, if she was indeed the subject of Regina’s defending.

The room was so silent one could hear a pin drop. Regina’s eyes seared into William’s. He seemed to respect the message

“I hear and respect your message,” he said. “If I were in your position, I’d pledge the same.”

Regina tilted her head. Her steely expression remained unchanged. “Hearing and respecting are not the same as understanding.”

Just as Moira was about to roll her eyes, William raised his hand. The motion of it stopped her instantly. His palm turned and lay on his heart. “I hear, respect, and understand to the upmost. You have nothing to fear from us.”

“William is right.” Moira turned her chin up, meeting Regina with defiance. “It is not us you should be worried about. And if this conference is not convened in the next century, your pledges will mean nothing to the menace lurking beyond.”

Emma raised a brow. “Read one too many cautionary tales?”

“What Moira means to say…” William started before his sister cut him off.

“ _Moira_ can speak for herself.”

“Not when she invites condescension. There are guests present and we have a duty to answer any and all questions. It is the least we can offer considering the Raiders’ history with them.”

Regina sighed and raised her brows. “That is all I needed to hear.”

Emma panned around the room. “Okay, well, _I_ have a few questions.”

“Please,” William said.

“Anderson himself told me you guys were working with the fleet to investigate the anomaly. But seeing as we’re the only ones who got invited to the party, I’m guessing you’re not determined to keep them in the loop.”

“A saberwolf can’t change its nature. It lives for the hunt. It teaches their cubs to prowl, to enjoy the chase, and toy with its prey.”

Emma took pains not to retort something immature. “Just why are the Raiders still operating separately from the Commonwealth?” she asked, keeping her gaze fixed on William and not his glaring sister. “I mean, that is what you’re doing. Someone… not necessary myself… may think you have something to hide.”

“Your concerns are well founded,” William confirmed with a patient tone. “I am not immune from doubt and neither are the rest of the Freedom Raiders. You will find as many lingering resentments here as I’m sure you will in the Commonwealth. But there comes a time when we must put aside those opinions and unite for the common good. I know words will not convince you, Emma. May I call you Emma?”

“Sure, whatever.” She shook her head idly, staying on track. “I don’t want promises or assurances. I want answers.”

Regina nodded along with her. “Just who are the Raiders now? Since Leopold has fled the Commonwealth?”

“We’d like to know who we’re dealing with here,” Emma added.

Valentino raised his hand. “Would it put you at ease if you knew at least three Raiders?”

“Three out of thousands?” Emma crossed her arms and smirked. “No offense.”

“None taken.”

William looked between Emma and Regina and explained in the clearest words he knew. “There is a clear delineation between the Raiders today and those of Leopold’s making. To make a long story short, the very first Freedom Raiders were a nonviolent group who encouraged reform. The Commonwealth was failing the people in matters of species rights and government transparency. When democratic tools could no longer make them see reason, the Raiders risked the alternative.”

“Terrorism,” Emma said. She instantly felt the memory swell over her like a cloud of debris. She could hear the distance wail of an ambulance, the whir of hovercams, and the sharp rocks biting into her palms. She knew Regina was reminiscing all over again as well. The tremble out of the corner of her eye attested to it.

“Terrorism,” William echoed. “While Leopold reigned as the militant leader of the Raiders, there were still those loyal to the original principles. This traditional arm of Freedom Raiders were pacifists. Their… archaic strategy of peace talks fell out of style with Leopold’s new generation. They were too impatient for results. In some cases – not all – they were coerced into committing great acts of violence. Some still believed in peace, still held out hope for the Chosen One, but they didn’t have the strength to overthrow Leopold.”

William noted Emma’s recoil and paused for her benefit. He ran a hand over his smooth head and messaged at the back of his neck.

“So they waited,” he said. “They waited and recounted the prophecy to their children. They whispered it behind closed doors because that’s what Leopold’s intimidations did to them. Moira and I were not subject to it. Not at that time. The story I am telling you now was told to me by my father. And he did not whisper it to me from behind a closed door because there was no reason to fear. The Chosen One had saved his family. She made it possible for the Raiders to live not in fear but with strength. Her words that day on the battlefield traveled across frequencies and star systems to the furthest outpost of our galaxy.”

William looked to each and every one of them: Valentino to Clarke, she to Valdez, Regina, and finally he rested his gaze on Emma. “I chose every one of you hear today for reasons unique to your skills. Each of your brings something unique to this investigation. Emma, I know you are hesitant still to accept your part. But know that I sought you out not just because you are a beacon of hope but because you are a source of wisdom. Instincts such as yours are not found even in the most experienced space pilots. You as well as Regina possess the kind of intuition that is only out in the field, not in the classroom. With all that said, I sincerely hope I have not wasted your time in bringing you here. I hope we can all learn to work together for the greater good as you did with my father.”

The most crucial selling point did not escape Regina. She acknowledged the unsaid with the raise of a brow. “You also recruited us because of our willingness to betray Cosmofleet.”

William matched her smirk with one of his own. “ _Betray_ is a strong word. I prefer something along the lines of ‘discretion.’”

Emma snorted. “You are your father’s son.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Getting to the heart of the matter…” droned Moira. Her irritability displayed in the sharp jabs her fingers gave the keypad. The holotable glowed to life. “Dim to 85 percent.”

Instantly, the room went into semi-darkness. A three-dimensional start chart rose and expanded before them. Moira inserted her finger into the hologram and directed their attention to an insignificant sector of space.

“Look familiar?”

“Yeah,” grated Emma, “looks like every other square parsec of space.”

“This is where my father sent his last transmission. His instruments picked up a strange signal and led him here. Not long after arriving at these last known coordinates, his shuttle went missing. That was two months ago. We have received no message since.”

Regina witnessed the distant recollection and wondered if she wasn’t the only hard hearted sentient in the galaxy. They had both lost their fathers and dealt with it in an icy manner. Only recently had Regina’s mood begun to thaw whenever she thought of him.

“The Raiders assisted in a four week search,” William said. “When not a trace was found, the fleet announced him presumed dead. He is the first casualty.”

Emma shook her head, confusion etched in her face. “Casualty from what exactly?”

“Isn’t that the question of the century,” Clarke remarked.

“You must have seen what our father saw,” William told Emma and Regina. “You survived when he did not.”

Emma cast a sorrowful look at Regina. Although she wouldn’t feel sorry they escaped by the skin of their teeth, there was reason to feel a sense of guilt. Anderson may not have been a friend per say, but he had proven his loyalty as an ally.

“You were, however, able to escape with evidence. That is quick thinking and very brave of both of you. I cannot thank you enough for your sacrifice. This may yet explain my father’s disappearance.”

Moira’s severe jawline worked to her grinding. “I sure would like to know what he died for.”

“I still don’t get it. Why all the secrecy?” Emma asked. “Your father seemed to trust Cosmofleet enough to have worked with them. If you guys are pals now, why not bring in their expertise?”

Moira pursed her lips. “We wish to avoid any… Commonwealth entanglements.”

“They are not known for being subtle,” William elaborated. “And although they have the numbers and the manpower, we have the resources. Not to mention better judgment. They are more likely to believe this energy vortex a trick of the light than a real threat.”

“Look, I’m no astrophysicist,” said Valentino, “but aren’t these energy vortexes like portals to other dimensions?”

“It’s vortices,” Valdez corrected. At Valentino’s quizzical stare, he explained. “The plural form of ‘vortex’ is ‘vortices.’”

Valentino acknowledged with an idle salute.

“I don’t mean to get ahead of the situation, but if we’re talking about invasion here,” Emma countered, “you’ll eventually need to bring Cosmofleet into the fold. You can’t hold off an offensive on your own.”

“We don’t intend to. Even with you as the Chosen One on our side. All I ask is we wait until we have veritable evidence of what we’re dealing with.” William turned to Regina who had been silent. “Commander? What are your thoughts?”

“I can understand Emma’s hesitancy,” she began with a note of caution. “If this discovery goes south, we will need more than technical resources. But I also agree that we should not concern Cosmofleet with a theory. The High Council may be one dictator short but they are still a population of obsolete simpletons. If anyone understands the consequences of their decision making…”

William caught on to her haunted look. He cleared his throat. “Yes, indeed. Well, I think we’ve discussed enough for today. I have a team that will work with your Mr. Nolan on processing the data. They are the best on Valeria. I shall update you both tomorrow. In the mean time, may I offer a tour of our facilities?”

Emma turned to her captain.

“Go on,” Regina said, “I’ll catch up with you and Henry later.”

Emma saw Valdez hanging back as well and nodded. “Alright. See you later.”

Valdez did a quick trick for her on his wheelchair by teetering on the wheels and kicking his feet up. Emma chuckled with a shake of her head upon leaving.

“You are certainly in good spirits,” Regina commented.

“Because of the chair?”

She sucked in a breath. “I’m – I mean –“

“Don’t trouble yourself. It’s not that big of a deal. The Raiders offered surgery to fix my paralysis, but I said I’m already hooked up to some piece of tech or another. They gave me a hover chair but I like the feel of the wheels. Makes me feel closer to the earth.”

“I’m sorry, Valdez –“

“Luca,” he correct. “No one calls me ‘Valdez’ but Valentino. And apparently I’m still calling him Valentino,” he realized with a chuckle.

“I didn’t mean offense. You just seem very happy. Amongst Raiders,” she finished with a raise of her brow.

“Yes, it is strange how our enemies become our friends.”

“That is a story I’d very much like to hear.”

“It’s not exactly worthy of a holoprogram, Captain.”

“Call me Regina, please. And I’ll deem whether it is worthy of a holoprogram. You can start by explaining your supposed death.”

“I am very sorry – for not telling you I was alive. It was unfair of me, especially because you thought so highly of me; kept Valentino’s taunting at bay.”

“I still think highly of you, but I would have appreciated a holo or a transmission. What happened? Last I remember before I was knocked out on Quarthos were blaster shots.”

Valdez cringed at the memory. He may have accepted the disuse of his legs but he didn’t like reminiscing about how he got to them. “Stray bolt to the back,” he muttered with a shrug. “Their blasters were supposed to be on stun but some idiot must not have paid attention in pre-ops brief. When we were ambushed in that park, everything went blasted sideways. Guess who shot me?”

Regina clenched her teeth and seethed. “An _idiot_.”

“He got reprimanded, I assure you. Anderson even allowed me to watch.”

“I don’t want to know.”

He nodded. “It’s best not to be party to any underhanded deeds. Raiders were still living in the shadows back then, but things have changed since Leopold has scrammed. I hear he’s slumming it from planet to planet like a beggar.”

“Good riddance. That man deserves no charity.”

“He sure isn’t getting it from the Raiders.”

Pursing her lips, Regina folded her arms and asked, “So how did you, Valentino, and Clarke end up on their side? Was I not paying you well enough?”

Valdez cracked a smile, “Of course not. Anderson gave us the choice between going back to Earth or staying on with him. Before making a decision, he gave us the big picture, something the fleet has never done. We were pretty sold when we heard about Admiral George and the fleet’s convenient failures in overthrowing him. We agreed to uphold the rules and protect the Raiders and their families against any threat, even if it came from our friends in the fleet.”

Regina narrowed her eyes. She detected no hint of brainwashing. He didn’t appear to have any lasting scars from coercion. He had, for all intents and purposes, chosen of his own free will. Frankly, she was surprised that of all her crew _Luca_ sided with the Raiders over her. It stung a bit, especially due to her fondness for him. Underneath that brilliant analyst exterior was a generous young man too awkward to harm a fly. In fact…

“You’ve lost your stutter,” Regina noted with rousing surprise.

Valdez smiled proudly and pointed to the cotton-like clouds outside the window. A soft pink morning stood out in the background. “The nice weather helps. Makes me calm, not to mention I stay in one place. No perilous shuttle rides for me!”

“Do you miss the fleet?”

Valdez responded with a resounding, “No. I’ve made friends here more easily than I expected. And Valeria has become my home. My position is not only higher, but it comes with a respect I didn’t get from the fleet. That’s not to say I didn’t appreciate _your_ command. Of everyone in Cosmofleet I owe you a great debt. You gave me a chance when no one else would look beyond my stutter. If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t have found a place amongst Anderson and his people.”

Regina sighed. He seemed to have made up his mind quite some time ago. It seemed like everyone around Regina was making up their minds and homes, and moving on but her.

She folded her arms and revealed her last inquiry. “And you were willing to throw away everything you had on Earth for these people?”

“I have no family left, Valentino was between girlfriends, and Clarke’s pretty tight-lipped about her situation. I hear she and her parents had a falling out when she agreed to another commission with the _Storybrooke_.” He shrugged. “It’s just how it is when you’re in this line of work. We spend so much time away… A transmission sometimes isn’t enough. People grow apart, families fracture, and all that pressure stretches a relationship to the point where it snaps.”

Regina submit to her own nauseating memory. She knew exactly what it meant to grow apart from people she cared about. “I’m glad you found each other. You may not have family left, Luca, but you have family in Valentino and Clarke.”

Valdez scratched the back of his neck with a chuckle. “Yeah, they’ve already broke the news to me on that. I’ve apparently been enlisted to officiate their wedding.”

Regina’s eyes bugged out. “Wedding? Valentino and Clarke?!”

“I know, right? I don’t think they saw it coming. It was sweet revenge to see Valentino tripping over himself to deny it.”

“It’s been a long time, indeed.”

“Hey,” he threw his hands into the hair, “things happen when you step out of the picture. People are turning up alive, joining ex-terrorist groups, and getting hitched!”

Regina laughed. “Something like that.”

Contemplative silence took over for a moment. Valdez cocked his head as he examined her. “It’s good to see you again, Captain. Regina. It’s nice to see you happy.”

Smile growing wider, Regina ducked her head down with a blush. “I am happy.”

“These days we get it where we can and from whomever will offer it. You never know when the galaxy will run out of opportunities.”

A more relevant statement could not have been spoken. It had Regina turning over past and present events in her life – the turning points, the regressions – and just what opportunities lied ahead.

Time was not infinite for the living – depending on what one believed. Regina herself didn’t believe in an afterlife but she did believe in the second chances of a first life. She had made plenty of mistakes in the past and few had been forgiven. Regina was sure now more than ever that she would not waste her shot.


	9. Chapter 9

Day four on Valeria gave nothing to Emma but more time to stew. She had taken up a new hobby lately: pacing. She made tracks through the living room of their suite. She hardly looked out the windows and allowed its cloudscape to calm her. It may be tranquil for some people but not for one such as Emma.

She should have been spending her time more wisely. She _should_ have been catching up on four years without Henry. They had been so close before she left. They did everything together – shared secrets, relied on one another, and cared to such a point where it hurt not to be in the same room together.

Time and distance had a way of changing a relationship. Henry hadn’t come to her about it, maybe because Emma put on the appearance of someone who did not want to be bothered. The pacing back and forth put him off. She clearly needed the space to do so. And the permanent scowl just pushed him further away. He was almost afraid to talk to her, fearing a word or a glance would direct her mood at him.

While Henry was afraid to snap Emma out of it, Regina was not. She had taken her fair share of abuses at Emma’s hand, so the likelihood that she’d get a black eye for saying _anything_ didn’t bother her. Emma had hurt her plenty whether the scars showed on the inside or the outside. She could not be hurt anymore than she already had been.

“You may be able to alienate Henry, but you are sorely mistaken if you think you can turn me away with this behavior.”

Regina kept her distance but put on a determined expression. Her entire body screamed _I’m not leaving_ and yet her eyes assured _It’s going to be okay_.

“What behavior?” snapped Emma.

“Overly despondent. I’d be worried you will jump out the window, but I know you’d get a high from it.”

“That’s not funny.”

“Neither is your brattish behavior,” Regina shot back with a cock of her head. “If this is what I have to look forward to with Henry…”

Emma’s pacing slowed to a halt. She crossed her arms over her chest. “This place is driving me insane,” she admitted roughly. “Being here… with those people… like everything is fine, like history doesn’t matter… And that _Moira_ …”

Regina delighted at the sneer. Emma may be a petulant person but rarely did she show hatred for others. That hatred colored her usual pale features and deepened the furrow between her brows, making her alarmingly attractive in Regina’s eyes.

In a way, she took it with relief. Emma was proving that no matter how heroic one may seem on the outside, there lied within them the same seeds of darkness as everyone else. When Emma got angry like this, Regina didn’t feel so alone in the madness.

Regina offered a small smile. “I think the word you are looking for is ‘condescending.’”

“The word I’m looking for is bitch.”

“This is not the first time someone hasn’t lived up to your expectations, Emma. You have to learn to deal with people even if they don’t agree with you.”

“It’s more than that. When we first arrived I thought I would have the upper hand. I mean, with my reputation and all…” Emma’s hand floundered in the air. She squinted, trying to ascribe meaning to her own words. “I didn’t expect them to be so friendly. It’s like they’re trying too hard. And that Caine woman is the entire opposite! She argues with me at every turn. She glares at me if I so much as blink. What’s her deal?”

“Would you like my honest opinion?”

Emma had the rare decency not to snort. “Can I stop you?”

“You’re reading too much into this. The Caines have been nothing but hospitable and generous. Do not drudge up old conflicts by questioning it. After all, sometimes a spanner is just a spanner.”

“Now you’re scaring me if you’re coming out with mechanic jokes.”

It was exasperating for Regina, no doubt, but she blushed all the same. “You are corrupting me. What can I say?”

“So there’s no ulterior motive in them putting us up in nice digs. Their father was killed – possibly by the same thing we escaped. We’re here and he’s not. You’d think they’d want retribution.”

“I thought the same at first, but I don’t believe that is their intention. Are they mourning for Anderson? Yes. Do they want vengeance? Of course. What child does not want vengeance for the untimely death of a parent? But these are rational people, Emma, not the likes of Leopold and Admiral George. They are willing to set aside our differences to find answers. Are you willing to do the same?”

“It’s not as simple as that.” Emma bunched her fists. Her face reddened further as she tried to figure out why Regina wouldn’t understand. If anyone should it was her. “They clearly want me not for my experience but for my title. They think I still have a part to play in this damn prophecy. It’s not enough that I won a war for them. It’s not enough that I kept the entire Commonwealth from slaughtering them. They say they respect me and yet Moira Caine didn’t have a care to use my gods damned title!”

“A title you yourself refuse to acknowledge,” Regina replied pointedly.

Emma ignored the logic by resuming her pacing. A heated sigh escaped her as she reverted back to dark thoughts and irrational discoveries.

“Emma, this is nonsense. Do you see how upset you are making yourself? And over nothing.”

“Why do you make excuses for them?”

“For who?”

“For William and fucking Moira!” exclaimed Emma. She grinded to a halt and narrowed her eyes. “You met them four days ago and now you’re siding with them over me.”

Eyes falling closed, Regina breathed in through her nose and let out it slowly. She could come up with no other response but a shake of her head and insisted, “That is not what I am doing.”

“Of course it is. I’ve been _paying attention_ , Regina, and you seem to be making all the decisions around here. You don’t even give me a chance to speak my mind or contribute to the discussion. You just agree with whatever comes out of their mouths.”

“You’re right!” Regina said suddenly. She chuckled humorlessly and threw her hand in the air. “You’re absolutely right. I make decisions without your input, I assert an opinion like it is our own, I speak on your behalf… but do you care to know why? And, yes, I have done it all consciously. On purpose.”

“Why?”

“To protect you, that’s why.” Regina placed her hands on her hips and jut her chin out. “You have always disliked being thrust into leadership roles. It is no secret: you recoil from responsibility. I did you a favor by taking on that burden.”

“That was the old me. I’ve changed, Regina. I may not like being a part of a prophecy or going by the title of commander, but I can make a blasted decision without you holding my hand.”

The worry lines deepened on Regina. “I never meant for you to feel unimportant.”

“But you did and it fucking hurt!”

“I apologize. Hurting you was not my intention.”

“A little late for that, isn’t it?” Emma’s arms dropped to her sides. The color had since drained from her face leaving her ashen and fatigued. “It’s always like that with us, Regina. We keep missing our shot. We’re so arrogant to think we can cheat time. I mean, it never fucking ends.”

Regina swallowed before hardening her tone. “You don’t mean that. As you said, things have changed. We have changed.”

“Doesn’t mean we’re right for each other.”

And there it was. After days of festering and no outlet, it just came out. That didn’t mean it was careless – the delivery, maybe, but not the meaning behind the words.

The second it left her mouth the whole room went still. They could hear the throbbing of their hearts in their ears. The thudding came like they had no expiration, unlike their relationship. A relationship which Emma didn’t seem to think was working.

“Please,” came the watery voice. Regina’s eyes fell closed and when they opened they were pleading with tears. “Please don’t take Henry away.”

“Is that what you’re worried about?!” Emma was about to tuck tail and run out of sheer embarrassment, but now that Regina had spoken… She whirled around with blazing anger. “I tell you we might be over and you jump right to him? Does this even matter to you anymore?” she demanded, gesturing to the space between them. “Do you even care to ask if this matters to me?”

“How am I supposed to know, Emma? You’ve been all over the place lately. I don’t know what you’re thinking or feeling besides anger at a woman who owes you nothing. You tell me it’s over. Then you accuse me of not wanting to fix it. What do you want from me?“ Regina’s hands flew to her head, fingers scrubbed at her temples. Head hanging low, she murmured, “I’m scared. I have been so scared lately. I’m afraid of losing you again and what might happen to Henry if he lost you.” Head shaking, she dropped her hands and felt them slap her thighs.

“This _mission_ frightens me,” she admitted. “That vortex and whatever lies beyond it keeps me up at night. No one knows, Emma. We carry the knowledge that the lives we lead might be at risk. We carry this possibility that there is a power beyond us – a race beyond our technology and intelligence. I can’t carry that all without you. I need you, Emma.”

“You don’t need anyone.” Emma’s eyes remained downcast, her voice eerily monotone. “You’re Commander Regina Mills of the _Storybrooke_.”

“Not when I’m with you. I see more acceptance in your eyes than I have with any dignitary. I would care nothing for title or rank unless it bound us together.”

Emma’s head snapped up at that. Could she really be asking…?

Before she could finish the thought, Henry burst in through the doorway.

“Hey, I’m sorry I’m late but Ren was just showing me this cool turbolift that can go sideways and…” He looked between the two women and picked up on the tension instantly. “Is something the matter?”

Emma’s eyes fluttered. Her mouth went dry as the Tume desert. She could no more assure her son than she could herself, so she shook her head and swept past him.

Regina and Henry watched the hatch seal shut behind her.

“What happened?” Henry asked.

Regina sank to the nearest couch and dropped her head in her hands. It was answer enough.

* * *

“Regina.”

The sheets felt so warm against her skin. They hugged her in all the right places and gave her a sense of limitless security. She didn’t want to leave the cocoon she made for herself.

“ _Regina_.”

Regina moaned in her sleep. She turned away from the noise and curled up in the warmth of her bed. She would have went on like this were it not for the rude jostling.

“Henry?” she rasped.

She scrubbed the bleariness from her eyes and squinted at the boy. His hair was mussed and sticking out at odd angles. He always loved to burrow under the covers as if the darkness still bred monsters. He insisted he did so out of habit now. Hence his awry, wrinkled appearance.

In her drowsy state, Regina smiled softly and smoothed down the side of his head. The hair still stuck up despite her efforts. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“I’m fine. It’s my mom.”

“Emma?”

“She’s having one of those nightmare things you call…”

“Night terrors?” Regina supplied.

Thankfully the room was doused with enough shadow to hide her cringe. She was no stranger to the night terror. They affected the victim more rigorously than nightmares. Sufferers couldn’t wake up without help, and even then they had no memory of it. Regina wondered with sorrow if Emma had anyone these past four years to help wake her up from her terrors.

Before Henry could even ask, Regina was pushing the covers off and slipping out of bed. She nudged him into her place. “Go on,” she murmured, sleepy eyed. It didn’t take much to coax him onto her side of the bed, all warm and inviting.

She did so partially to keep him from Emma’s suffering. Their rooms were next to each other and across the suite from Regina’s bedroom. He shouldn’t have to hear those sounds. He should not have to worry about his mother like this. There was so much Emma kept to herself these days. Her own son didn’t know what had happened to his mother the past four years; she only disclosed what she wanted him to hear. The worst part was he knew he couldn’t get through to her. He knew it and Regina did too. She had lived with him under the same roof for four years and she could tell when the fear of not knowing became too much. Henry may be brave enough not to beg her, but Regina could read the plea in his eyes saying, “Please go to her. Go where I cannot.”

Regina also wanted him here because she missed him. She liked the thought of coming back to his brown head of hair between her pillows. It reminded her of the nights he came to her with tears in his eyes and his mother’s name on his lips. It was by no means a happy memory but it did remind her how important she was in Henry’s life. He could come to her for anything, including comfort and a shoulder to sleep on.

Sliding the door shut behind her, Regina padded across the suite to Emma’s bedroom. She stalled at the door, pulling the end of her satin pajama top in an absentminded tick. There were indeed sounds coming from the other side. Sounds of distress.

Regina’s hand left her shirt for the door pad. The door slid open with a delicate _swish_. She walked in, eyes adjusting to her dim surroundings. If Emma was awake she wouldn’t appreciate the uninvited. Even at a decent time she’d be cranky enough to throw Regina out. If their last argument was anything to go by, Emma wouldn’t be in the welcoming mood at any time of day.

The only signs of a wakeful presence were the thrashing legs and tossing head, and yet her eyes were closed so tight they might as well have been welded shut. Regina bit back any sort of response. One peep could dial up this nightmarish scene.

With calculated ease, Regina rounded the bed. “Emma?” she whispered gently. Her fingertips trailed the bed sheets, just out of reach from an ankle. When Emma recoiled Regina brows pinched together as if wounded.

Henry suffered from night terrors a few years ago, around the time just after Emma left. When first she was woken by the kicking and screaming, Regina felt completely out of her element. She didn’t know how to help him. She had certainly never had to wake up a thrashing child before. It broke her heart to see him squirming just like it was breaking her heart to see Emma do the same.

One thing she had in her arsenal now that she didn’t before was experience. The sheets were draped off the bed in haphazard fashion, but Regina did her best to right them. Emma whimpered and turned on her side. Regina could see the damp little hairs plastered to the back of her neck. A moment later, she had slipped into the bed and was breathing a cool stream of air on that neck.

Emma stiffened and curled in on herself like a frightened cub. She jerked to an unseen enemy, muscles convulsing and vocal chords crying out until they were raw. Regina pressed herself against Emma’s back and kept her still with an arm around her. Now the vibrations were thrumming through Regina. They went back and forth like waves in conflict, Emma’s quivering and Regina’s durasteel persistence. Regina held on if only to take some of it away, to carry the burden as she had been trying to do since Emma’s return.

The pressure Emma had been under lately was more than one person could take. She recently lost her best friend and was held captive by Korobians who had done _gods knew what_ to her. Emma didn’t even want to talk about it before and it seemed like she wasn’t about to any time soon. It came as no surprise that Emma was suffering night after night. No surprise at all when the faces of pale-faced sadists and that of an expressionless Mary Margaret were plaguing her sleep.

Emma endured through fitful motions and mumbles, so Regina curled tighter around her. She tried to absorb what she could, worried that perhaps she was just making it worse.

She tried once more with a solemn, “Emma…”

A response came in a muffled noise, one that sounded a lot like Regina’s name. Regina brought her arm from under Emma and onto the pillow above them. With her fingers she made careful strokes through the sweat-soaked hair. Emma wrenched as a result and screamed out.

Regina held on long enough for them to share the terror as one. They suffered together with feeble moans and a cold sweat. Soon there were tear tracks down Regina’s cheeks as well.

“Listen to my voice. Here me, Emma.” Regina shut her eyes and pleaded with herself not to break, not as Emma suffered like this. “I love you so much.” When she opened her eyes she was looking out through a bleary rainscape. Hundreds of drops trickled like tears down the transparisteel window. “I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry I keep letting you go.”

She swore it with lips to her ear and fingers in her hair. Despite the fact that Emma would not remember any of it, Regina held on this time.

* * *

The round, windowless conference room was doused in semi-darkness. The only light came from the shimmering table and its suspended hologram. Occupying the room were the usual characters including Emma and Regina, Valentino, Valdez, and Clarke, and Moira.

William had been called away on urgent matters. Apparently, the Raider patrol vessels had picked up another disturbance and were awaiting orders. Since Emma and Regina’s incident, neither the fleet nor the Raiders had made a move. All further operations were halted with the exception of a few ships stationed a safe distance away.

David attended due to his key role in translating the data. He was currently explaining with animated gestures and the spreading of his arms to show the size of the vortex.

“If you direct your attention to the hologram, this string of symbols is just one in a thousand the Valerian team and I have been able to pull from the data Emma and Regina recovered from the anomaly.”

“If all of us here believe it to be an energy vortex,” Clarke said, “why do you keep calling it an anomaly?”

“Yeah,” Valentino crossed his muscular arms, “Swan and Captain Mills were effectively knocked out by a wave of _electrical energy_. I think we’re past anomaly when they experienced the brunt of the evidence.”

David looked to the others with an air of uncertainty. “I… didn’t want to speak for everyone.”

Regina nodded to him. “Energy vortex is fine, David.”

“Energy vortex, then. Anyway, the sequence you’re looking at here is very complex. At first glance there didn’t seem to be any pattern or form but the technicians and I are beginning to spin some theories…”

As David went on, Regina tuned out to study Emma from across the table. She could see her pallid complexion behind the hologram, all dark circles under her eyes and semi-alert responses. The image was troublesome, but it could have been worse considering they had nothing to do but wait and worry the past week. Regina hadn’t been getting much sleep either, not since Emma’s night terror. Restful sleep proved difficult when just a few feet away Emma was grappling with her own demons.

They hadn’t spoken of that night Regina shared her bed. Emma didn’t think anything of it because she didn’t know. The moment Valeria’s twin suns peeked through the blinds, Regina removed herself. She had left a slumbering Emma that morning, which made her feel a bit relieved. She had feared nothing would help ease the tremors. She tried with her body, curling around Emma’s, and with words delivered, if only faintly. In the end, Emma woke somewhat rested but she still had trouble night after night. Henry hadn’t come to Regina again with pleading in his eyes. Regina hadn’t gone to Emma because she needed to protect her own heart as well.

“… believe it to be a language of some sort, much like how computers communicate with each other.” David paused to let that sink in. Everyone drew various expressions of bewilderment He took a breath and scrubbed a hand over his restless face. “Whoever or whatever created this language must be in possession of technology well beyond that of our known galaxy.”

Valdez nodded. “David and I are most definite that the vortex itself is not responsible. It is merely a gateway through which this message was sent.”

“Message?” Emma frowned. “You mean to say someone from another galaxy sent us a message?”

“It’s just a theory,” David defended.

“How do you explain the electrical surge that overpowered my shuttle?” Regina asked.

David was shaking his head. He waved his hand in the air, clueless. "It may have seen you as a threat? Decided to activate its electronic defense mechanism?”

“They could very well have created this thing,” Valdez supplied. “After all, we know very little of the nature of these anomalies. Ah,” he snapped his finger, “sorry: energy vortex.”

“The ultimate question that no one seems to have raised…” Moira spoke up for the first time. She tilted her chin up and peered at the alien language. “ _Who_ created this language? Who are ‘ _they_?’”

She was met with silence. No one wanted to theorize this for fear that it may hold weight in the future.

“Well, the hell if I know,” Emma broke the tension with a roll of her eyes. “I’m just here to deliver the data.”

Moira pinned her with a stare. “If that is the only reason for which you are here, what is keeping you from departing Valeria? If you are nothing but a messenger, why do you care so much about the message?” Before Emma could respond with a retort, Moira drove on. “I think it’s because you don’t want to disappoint. You know very well how we trust in the prophecy and despite your reluctance you can’t seem to tear yourself away. You may argue but the pull of destiny is starting to influence you, isn’t it?”

Emma shrugged “Maybe I want to see how this plays out.”

“Or maybe you are starting to accept your responsibility.”

“Hey, this has nothing to do with me.” Emma emphasized with a jab of her finger at the hologram. “Your damn book prophesized my bringing balance to the galaxy. That was about ending a war between the Raiders and Admiral George.” Emma emphasized with a jab of her finger at the hologram. “That language? I don’t see my name written there. The prophecy said nothing about a vortex and evil computers.”

“That remains to be seen. The book is a secondhand account. Spoken fate –”

“Spoken from who?” Emma shot back.

“Who is not important.”

“When the fate concerns my own, it matters to me. What more do you people want from me? I became your Chosen One. fulfilled your damn prophecy and I want nothing more to do with this vortex than what I _choose_ to be.”

Moira simmered. Lips pulled taught and pale, she tried again. “I do not speak for myself here. I speak for thousands. If a threat draws near, one that the combined powers of Cosmofleet and the Freedom Raiders cannot contain, we will need leadership. It is not a question of if but when. There is no other –“

“I think that is enough.”

Heads snapped toward the warning voice. Regina was fixing Moira with a steadfast look. The threat in her tone had been clearly demonstrated. She had perfected the deep timbre and subtle growl in her years as commander. When it came down to it, Moira was no different than Regina’s crewmembers. She had a spine that tingled just as thorough.

David folded his arms and matched Regina’s imposing stature. He and Valdez in particular seemed to share in the captain’s warning. Valentino and Clarke seemed torn between alliances while Emma was too shocked to blink.

“We will convene when William returns.” Moira broke eye contact but she kept her shoulders taught and her chin level. “Until then I believe a reprieve is in order for us all.”

She swept out of the room in marching strides.

“I sure could use a break,” David admitted and gathered his research. He regarded Emma’s gaunt figure for a moment. “You want to grab a bite? I hear the caf is serving sushi from Bota Baui.”

Emma hung her head. Before she knew it, her feet were moving. “Oh, fine…”

“Mind if I tag along?” Clarke called after just as David and Emma waved her on. “Coming Valdez?”

Valdez trolled behind her. “Got to eat, right? Valentino?”

The hologram continued to be the only source of lights in the room. Valentino was held up by the contemplative expression painting the captain’s features. “Nah, I just had a protein shake.”

“Suit yourself!”

The hatch sealed shut behind Valdez. Still drenched in shadow, Valentino made to power off the hologram and dial up the lights.

“No.” Regina’s attention still revolved around the shimmering language. “Not yet.”

He shut it down anyway and earned a signature Captain Mills scowl in return. “Anyone ever tell you you can’t solve the galaxy’s mysteries in a day?”

“No,” she sassed, “they failed to express that gem like they failed to prepare me for this.” She emphasized her point with a thrusting hand to the holotable. It’s darkened surface, unfortunately, failed to live up to her testimony.

“Rest easy, Commander. I know what you need.”

The smirk did nothing to ease Regina’s nerves. “Don’t bring fire whiskey into this, Valentino, or I swear –“

“No alcohol involved.” He held his hands up with an innocence even his burly frame could afford. “Just follow me.”

A short walk and a turbolift ride later, Regina and Valentino were taking in the majesty of Valerian City. The pedestrian skybridge was populated by people of all ages, species, and rank. Lovers walked hand-in-hand as parents chatted over their children pointing animatedly at the skybus. Sky traffic proved mild with cabs and private transports crisscrossing above and below them.

The fair breeze stirred the ends of Regina’s hair and seemed to carry off menial worries. Valentino’s idea happened to be quite favorable. The fresh air was nice. To get away from work, if only for a while, settled the nerves and cleared the mind.

Valentino breathed deeply, his barrel chest expanding. “Refreshing, isn’t it? I haven’t smelled clean air like this in… I don’t think I’ve _ever_ smelled air this clean.”

“It is not like Earth,” Regina agreed. “And as much as the _Storybrooke_ is home to me, its recycled air can be a bit stale.”

A wealth of memory stirred Valentino’s heart. Recently he had stopped counting the years he’d been parted from the _Storybrooke_. Although he signed up with the Raiders, moving on was more difficult than expected. Having Valdez and Clarke helped. They were the only two from what he called his ‘past life’ that didn’t make living on Valeria such a hard transition. The unpolluted air certainly helped too.

He admitted as much to Regina. In a way, he felt he owed it to his former commander. He sort of abandoned her and the rest of the crew and left them thinking he was dead.

Regina took it with a disappointed click of her tongue, but waved off his apologies. As she had done with Valdez, Regina simply accepted it and moved on. As long as they were content with where their decision led them, she supported them. It was hard enough to find happiness in the galaxy let alone from one’s career. Regina hadn’t truly learned that lesson until she resigned from Cosmofleet and moved to Misthaven with Henry.

Valentino cocked a brow at the confession. “You don’t miss being a commander?”

“I find leading a town more demanding.”

“You like the challenge.”

“And I like being able to come home to Henry. My commission for Cosmofleet was becoming too hard on him – and myself. I was flying from system to system, carrying out orders… the usual. The faces were changing. My officers were being replaced by young upstarts I wouldn’t trust to polish my boots. Everyone seemed to be pursing different goals, walking paths that did not coincide with _Storybrooke’s_ flight plan. I lost Ruby to Captain Finnegan, Kathryn was transferred to the Presidio, and David quit altogether for a scruffy pirate. By the time I retired, my ship was decommissioned and the rest of my crew divvied up to any fleet commanders who wanted them.”

“Emma was gone, too.”

“I should have known she was meant for someone else.” Regina gave him a doleful grin. “The stars… apparently.”

He gave a chuckle. “That’s our Emma.”

Valentino was no fool. Sure, he could be a bit thick-headed at times, but his eyes were just as smart as his mouth. The past week he noticed the soft glances, the extended hand contact, and their all around proximity. There were subtle hints of intimacy he might not have picked up on if he hadn’t the stones to explore his relationship with Clarke. The fact that he shared those same intimacies with Miranda made it possible for him to pick up on.

And boy did he pick up on something. Regina actions around Emma were obviously covetous – and not in a way a superior covets their play thing. No, this was far from lust. This was something far deeper, built painstakingly from one year to the next whether they were toe-to-toe or lightyears apart.

From Regina’s silence, Valentino gathered that there were still some unresolved feelings between them. He decided to lighten the conversation with a bit of fun.

He smirked and gave her a brotherly nudge with his elbow. “Don’t tell me you haven’t tapped that.”

Regina didn’t know whether to slap him upside the head or push him clean off the skybridge. “Is this encouragement or mockery, I wonder?”

“You’re avoiding the question. I’d be pretty upset if you passed up that opportunity.”

“Why?” Regina cut him off and looked him square in the eye. “Because you didn’t get there first? Emma is not some conquest. She is an independent woman. A fierce, fierce competitor.”

“Question is, is she a fierce lover?”

Regina’s jaw dropped. Before she knew it her fist socked his shoulder.

“Oh – ho, ho, ho! Just joking, Commander.” He cradled his arm with barely concealed laughter. “We can do that now – jokes with friends. I mean,” he lifted his hands around them, “what’s the end of the galaxy without a little humor to lighten the doom and gloom?”

Regina couldn’t help the curving of her lips. “Indeed.”

“So…” he wiggled his eyebrows.

The heat enveloped Regina’s cheeks so completely she nearly covered her face. When his facial features prompted yet again for details, she threw her shoulders back and donned a severe tone. “You are not to talk about Miss Swan in that manner. I thought you possessed better tact.”

“Oh, it’s ‘Miss Swan’ now? I thought you’d take issue with me butting into your personal life, not how lowly I speak of her.” He crossed his arms around his chest. Chin tucked down, he peered past her anger to the fierce blush. It finally dawned on him. “You really fancy her, don’t you, Commander?”

“Well, it appears that I am more lenient these days.”

Valentino smirked. “Yeah, I’m sure _Miss Swan_ knows all about you and your… lenient ways.”

A fist hit him square in the other shoulder. He should have counted himself lucky. It was either that or an obliging nudge over the skybridge.

* * *

Emma crept up to the door and knocked. A holler from the other side welcomed her in.

“Hey,” Henry greeted.

Propped up in bed, he continued to page through the book as he re-crossed his ankles. It was not yet evening but he clearly enjoyed settling in for the day. Emma fleetingly wondered if it was the routine of his life in Misthaven that he missed or he was just avoiding her.

The gold lettering on the cover was all Emma needed to identify his reading material. She showed surprise with a raise of her brows. “Research?”

He shrugged. “Just thinking.”

Frankly, Henry thinking things with that book around made Emma nervous. It wasn’t exactly her son that worried her, but what he could do with his brain that did. Henry had an incredibly creative way of looking at the world to a point where his brilliant mind could rationalize a prophecy.

“Thinking is good.” She neared the bed and sat gingerly on the edge. “As long as it doesn’t give you a migraine.”

Henry snickered with her.

When his eyes drew back down to the book, she diverted hers elsewhere. She scanned the room, biding time until she had the courage to look back. “Can we talk?”

Henry took it as a request to ditch the book. He closed the book, albeit regretfully, and folded his hands on his stomach. He stared expectantly.

“I know it’s been boring here. I don’t like it either, this waiting with nothing to do, no orders, no school…” she said wryly.

Henry chuckled. “Regina has me doing plenty of homework. She clearly doesn’t know the meaning of vacation.”

“Henry…” Emma paused, grasping for the right words. “Kid, you know this isn’t a vacation, right? The only reason we brought you was because we didn’t feel safe leaving you on Earth. That doesn’t mean you neglect your chores.”

“Oh my gods. You sound like her.”

“My point is… Okay, that wasn’t really my point. The reason I wanted to talk to you was because we’ve been in Valerian City for a week now. I’m sure you’ve heard things,” Emma’s eyes narrowed uncertainly, “whispers about another war, which I’m sure isn’t news to you. The fact that Regina and I are at the center of another crisis must not phase you.”

Henry snorted. “Not much does anymore.”

“And that’s why it’s important you know how unusual that is. You’re just ten-years-old. You shouldn’t have to think a galactic war is an everyday occurrence. I don’t want you to start believing just because Regina and I have gotten through with some minor scraps and bruises that we can survive anything.”

The weight of what she was saying affected his expression. As she spoke, his brows came together. “As you said,” he rolled his eyes a bit, “I’m ten not four. You may be a hero but you’re not invincible.”

“Somehow that sounds reassuring coming from you.” Emma grasped his foot and gave it a squeeze. “I like that you think of me as a flesh and bones person. I really need that, Henry.”

“Are all the ‘believers’ getting you down?” He emphasized ‘believers’ with a teasing waggle of his head.

“That’s the understatement of the century. Really, though. I wish I could say I’m always going to be around…”

His face suddenly went sheet white. The terror she triggered had her backpedaling with widened eyes. “Whoa, I don’t mean it like that.” She shifted closer to him and gripped his hand in hers. “I am not leaving you. I will go through the seven hells themselves to get us through this. You’re stuck with me for the next thirty years.”

“Whoa,” in a move predictive of his incoming teenage years, he unstuck his hand and let hers flop to the bed like it carried a plague, “let’s not go that far.”

Emma chuckled. “Not everyone likes the cards their dealt. Varma bat poo happens.”

Henry rolled his eyes.

“I don’t like my cards, at least the one the Raiders dealt me.” The admittance summoned a long-term struggle; one she couldn’t seem to rid herself of. “This whole business of war and saving the galaxy… it’s not what I signed up for. I agreed to help with this operation because it would mean yours and Regina’s protection.”

Emma sighed, looking away. She barely held back. It was all coming out like it had been waiting for someone these four years, surrounded in duracrete and sealed in durasteel.

She looked back with half-fulfilled dreams and lucid reason. “I just wanted to service Cosmofleet, you know? To fly starships by day and be able to come home to my kid at a reasonable hour.”

Henry sensed the plea in her grasping hand. He understood even if she hadn’t said it. Leaning forward, his features pulled down into a frown that was oddly reminiscent of Regina. They seemed to carry the same concern in their expression whenever Emma felt stripped of confidence.

“Mom,” he said in an altogether maturing voice, “you don’t need my permission. If you want to be their Chosen One, that’s fine. If you just want to be a pilot and fly in Cosmofleet, I get that too. I’m not gonna lie and say I won’t feel bad about you going away. I may be used to you going to dangerous places, but I understand your job and what it means to other families.”

“ _Henry_ …” Emma tipped her head if only to stay the tears burning at the back of her eyes.

“I’m proud of you, Mom. And so is Regina. If you go, you’ll always have a family to come back to. If we can wait four years, we can sure spare a few weeks.”

“I don’t know how long it’ll be – _if_ I’m going anywhere.”

“Don’t worry so much. All you need to do is follow your instincts. They haven’t steered you wrong before. They’ve gotten you this far.”

“You are too logical for your own good.”

“Regina considers logic to be a noble trait.”

Emma snorted. “She would, even in excessive amounts.”

“Some may think it’s the perfect requirement for joining Cosmofleet Academy.”

Emma nudged him back into his pillow. “Nice try, kid. The youngest applicant accepted into the Academy was 21-years-old.”

“That was Regina,” Henry said with a disordered look, like he was missing the point.

“Yeah, and she doesn’t take kindly to people who break her records.” She fixed him with a haunted expression. “Believe me.”

* * *

Regina was still walking the skybridge in thought after Valentino returned to his quarters. His encouragements and observations had forced her to consider her relationship with Emma. And not just at present. If war came and they somehow survived the end, would they have anything left to salvage? She and Emma had sacrificed so much already. If they gave up too much, what kind of people would they be? Death could twist a person just as easily as power. Should the vortex bring annihilation in its wake, neither of their fates would be guaranteed.

If Regina cared as much as her heart willed, wouldn’t it be unwise to push Emma towards a destiny that would get her killed? After years of service to a life without children and love to fill her house, wasn’t it time for Regina to be a little selfish? She had watched Daniel die, had to hear from Cora that her father had finally passed while she was away at the Academy… Didn’t she deserve some happiness?

If Regina truly believed that, she would cling to Emma with every fiber of her being while the galaxy burned around them.

But old habits died hard.

One of Valeria’s suns peeked behind a cloud to throw sunshine on her face. It felt warm but it did not provide clarity. A presence approached from behind and fell into step with Regina. She turned, surprised to see Moira Caine there.

“Miss Caine, I did not expect to see you here.”

“Am I not allowed to breathe the same air as you?” She stopped Regina with a raised hand. “I enjoy watching the sky lanes. It seems you had the same idea.”

“Miss Caine, how can I help you?”

“Do you mean that seriously? Because I do have a request.”

There didn’t seem to be any ill conceived notion behind the words. Regina narrowed her eyes and tread carefully. “What is it that I can do?”

“Convince Emma Swan.”

Regina became overwhelmed with amusement. It had been a never-ending day of contemplation for her. She was far too exhausted to feel trepidation. “ _Convince_ Emma Swan?” she repeated with dark chuckle. “Have you _met_ Emma Swan?”

“I ask on behalf of many, many people. I don’t think I have to stress the importance of such a request.”

“You dislike Emma. Your behavior has shown as much. Why do you care?”

“This is far beyond my personal opinion,” Moira said with a flick of her hand. “The prophecy is more than a vision; it gives us the courage to protect our way of life. If you don’t think it’s important, I suggest you remember how your shuttle became crippled by the vortex’s energy surge. That is just a taste of what it could do to an entire planet.”

“You do not have to explain the risks,” Regina sniped. She growled internally at the gall of this woman. Did she not know the hostile forces she had to deal with when she was commander? Did she not realize how many civilizations she secured and planets she saved from all out war? “I understand the ramifications if an invasion of… _whatever_ … is not repelled. But the last thing we need is to get excited over semi-translated data. I will not convince Emma of anything unless I have the full picture.”

Moira pulled her hands to her hips and glared back. “By the time you have the full picture it may be too late.”

“You are asking too much. You don’t know her. If I put unnecessary pressure on Emma right now, it will all go supernova.”

The hint of distress in Regina’s voice caused Moira to pay closer attention. She cast aside the strategy she had refined tirelessly before crossing paths with the commander. She walked a few leisurely steps around Regina before facing her.

“I don’t know what your relationship is with Emma Swan,” Moira began carefully, “but I sense the closeness. You would trade your life for hers if it came to it. You can save her a great deal of pain if you help her realize her potential. If anyone can get through to her it is you."

“I would be putting her in more danger by pushing her towards this purpose you speak of.”

“No one knows if there will be a war. No one knows if the beings who created that vortex mean us harm. We must hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Emma’s participation is key to both lines of defense.”

“If I had it my way I would take her far away from all of this.”

“But it is not up to you. Everyone watched with pride as a woman who came from nothing – a seemingly average human being – bridged the gap between two warring sides. So many hopeful people have been looking for Emma since she disappeared four years ago. You don’t have to decide anything, Regina. The galaxy already made the choice for you. If they want Emma, they will have her.”

“And what kind of life is that?” Regina stepped forward, lip curling. “What is hope if it forces her to sacrifice in the name of a lost cause?”

“It is not a lost cause if she believes.”

“She doesn’t. She never has.”

“Then you must make her believe. You forget, Regina. The book and the prophecy… your destiny is more intertwined with Emma’s than you think. Whoever painted this future saw a queen and her knight, standing hand-in-hand against tyranny.” Moira tilted her head in consideration. She mused softly, “The knight may save the galaxy, but the queen was meant to save her. You are destined to guide her.”

Regina’s mind churned to any alternative. Her lips twisted and her brows furrowed. She could grasp for any chance in the universe and still fail to close her fingers around it. Right now she was floundering.

Regina turned away. Her hands gripped the cold railing until her knuckles turned white. “I can’t damn her to a life she doesn’t want,” she murmured. “She needs to stand on her own two feet and walk her own path.”

“And if it alters from yours?”

Her grip tightened on the cold durasteel. The act distracted her from the tears in her eyes. “I will not keep her here. I will not beg.”

“You think you are protecting her,” Moira warns, “but you are not. You are signing her death sentence.”

“Emma deserves to choose. I will not let anyone take that away from her. I know all too well how manipulation changes a person.”

“Which should make you the expert on destiny. Her unwillingness to believe the prophecy will be the galaxy’s undoing. The greater good must be served. Isn’t that what they teach at the academy?”

Their eyes met. Regina swallowed, understanding finally. Her eyes dropped and returned to the pinkish orange world around her. The skyscrapers towered over them like gods and goddesses while transports buzzed past. Light gleamed off transparisteel windows and durasteel girders. All of man’s creation, so glittering and prominent, and yet it all could crumble in a wave of foreign energy.

Regina turned her gaze forward. The day was slowing down. The twin suns were at their most spectacular an hour before dusk, but it wouldn’t last. Soon Valerian City would be doused in the chilly iridescence of artificial light.

“The night takes away our ability to perceive while our machines give it back to us.” Regina looked to Moira. “But for how long? What happens when everything we built turns to dust?”

Moira’s disquiet had her gaze shifting towards imminent twilight. “We fumble in the darkness, on our hands and knees, until we find the courage to pick ourselves up and start over again.”

* * *

Later that day, after the suns had been swallowed by surface gases and Moira had attended to other pressing duties, Regina decided to return to her quarters. It was time.

She entered the suite with carefully concealed intentions. The overhead lights were turned low enough for occupants to enjoy the late night scene. Valerian City may be close to the outer atmosphere, but its perpetual cloud cover kept out the star scape. But where the sky remained devoid of stars, the city made up for it in brilliant lights. Beyond the suite’s window, skyscrapers and bridges were studded with light. From up close one could detect their artificial workings, but from afar it all seemed as if the stars had come down from the heavens and lived amongst them.

“Hey,” came Emma’s voice.

She exited from her bedroom in soft trousers and a loose white sweater. Her hair was piled up in a messy bun and her face scrubbed clean. She was the image of someone who was enjoying her time away from the drama of outer space. Regina’s heart sank at the sight. This was going to be more difficult that she thought.

“I haven’t seen you around today,” Emma said. “Where were you?”

Regina turned from the undying lights. She swept the living room and asked, “Is Henry around?”

“No, he’s with Valdez. They’re working on some sort of project. Henry says its homework.”

“Good. We need to talk.” Regina didn’t give it a second thought. “Moira came to see me.”

“Oh. Then we definitely don’t have anything to talk about.”

The retreating form caused Regina’s heart rate to spike. She took great pains to keep calm – for Emma’s sake. “She had some interesting things to say.”

“She usually does.”

“Please, Emma. Just listen to what I have to say.”

Emma slowed to a halt. Her hand met the frame of her bedroom door. A sigh uttered from her as she finally turned. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m listening.”

Regina took a deep breath and as she exhaled she let out everything that happened earlier. She conveniently left out her conversation with Valentino – the subject of their relationship seemed a secondary priority compared to intergalactic war.

Regina left nothing out of her discussion with Moira. If anyone could detect a false word it was Emma. She had been given complete and utter access to Regina’s weaknesses mostly because she _was_ a weakness of hers.

“I’m not saying I agree with her,” maintained Regina. “But we should prepare for all outcomes. If that energy vortex brings danger to our galaxy, do you really want to stand idly by? I’m not saying you have to fight a war as the Chosen One. There are other alternatives. You do not have to fulfill the prophecy as some savior, but as a woman protecting her family.”

Emma had been listening all right. The only signs she made were the small contractions of her jaw muscles. “Are you asking me or telling me?”

“ _Emma_. We have been through too much for you to question my loyalties. We have wasted too much time arguing over expectations and responsibilities. Emma,” Regina’s features turned soft as she tilted her head in appeal, “you have known fear and hurt and so many years of loneliness, but not to the extent that I have experienced it.”

“What, is this a contest?” Emma spat. “Who has hurt more? Who has the most scars?”

“This is _not_ a contest. We are _not_ at the academy. I don’t care if you break every single one of my records.” Regina let her arms hang loose at her sides and approached Emma with caution. She took her steps with unstable courage. She neared with the all-too-familiar dread that Emma would run. “What I do care about is your freedom. Moira may be willing to put you in a transport and ship you off to battle, but I will not entertain the idea.”

Emma chewed at the inside of her cheek. She forced to keep her eyes on Regina’s. To turn away would betray her doubts. She had to stay strong. When faced with authority and experience in the form of someone like Regina, Emma had to keep herself from falling victim to it. Regina was her weakness as much as she was Regina’s.

“How do I know you won’t just take my place and claim all the glory?” she asked.

A red fury tinged Regina’s cheeks. “What in the blasted hells has gotten into you? Why do you distrust me all of a sudden?”

“Maybe because all I’ve been made to do the past few days is sit and stew. I can’t be of any help to the investigation because I’m not a technician or an expert in alien fucking symbology!”

“What happened this past week…” Regina held her head up with messaging fingers. “It’s been difficult waiting, I know. I want to go home as much as you. We’ve been on missions, Emma, where we have no one to trust but our blasters and the crew at our side. Maybe it’s time to have a bit of faith. If William and Moira are willing to help, maybe we should take the offer before it expires. You can perform scouting missions as their Chosen One and the _Storybrooke_ will back you every step of the way. We can fulfill the prophecy on _our_ terms.”

Emma thought about it. She had nothing but time to think these days. She had predicted Moira would go to Regina and use their partnership to get to her. It was a sly move, but a brilliant one. Beside Regina and Henry, there was no one left in the galaxy that could shift Emma’s allegiances. She traveled to the direction of her own instruments, flying by the seat of her pants with no regard for anyone but those two soul beings.

Emma expected her to come bearing a proposal, one that originated from Moira but was tweaked by Regina. It was just like the commander to twist a message to her own suiting, but this altering was largely for Emma’s benefit. And Emma was pretty damn sure no one else would take those pains for her.

Realizing the lengths Regina had gone for her and would still go, Emma decided to play along a bit longer. The arguing, she had learned, was just as sweet as the making up.

Like the smack talking student of her academy days, Emma still loved a good fight. There was no better competitor than her commander. Like Regina said, they had been arguing constantly – since the very day they met. It was only because they enjoyed arguing that it persisted over the years. Even when it concerned the fate of the worlds and the demise of civilizations, the bantering dialed up the adrenaline and got the blood pumping. Exhilarating was just a word. Fighting with Regina was an experience.

“You don’t understand what it’s like,” Emma said, a bit of sincerity slipping into her words. “I live with this everyday. I wake up and its there. I try to sleep and it’s always nagging at me. I’ve faced up to my job as a parent and I thought I’ve made it clear that I’m committed to you, but with the way things have been lately, I’m not so sure.”

“You can’t you just listen to me?” Exasperated, Regina shook her fists in the air and declared to the heavens, “I worked so hard to gain the dignity and power that comes with being a commander,” she dropped her angered wrath on Emma, “and I gave it all up to care for _your_ son! I did it gladly, thinking one day you’d come back. And when you did I pleaded to all the divine forces that you’d stay long enough to figure out what… what is _happening_ here.”

The trembling hand gestured between them to indicate the plethora of feelings they had yet to acknowledge. Emma’s eyes widened to the choking sobs. Regina’s hands were scrambling over her face and shuddered with what seemed like years of reckless hope.

This she did not expect. Forgoing any joy she had relished in the argument, Emma had the sense to look guilty. “I didn’t know,” she admitted meekly. “I didn’t know you were going through that. I’m sorry that I –“

“You star chasing idiot!”

Emma would be damned to a black hole if she didn’t want to kiss that enraged look off Regina’s face. It would have been so nice to lose herself to that irresistible mouth. Oh, did it ever try to be biting – time and time again – but it failed to keep out how utterly endearing Regina thought of her.

“I love you,” she confessed, shaking her head and smiling at the predatory approach.

“I know,” Regina said before plowing Emma into the wall with her kiss.

“I’m no longer your subordinate.” Emma grazed her confident lips over the skin of Regina’s neck. “I’m just a consultant Cosmofleet hired for the duration of this mission. You hold no authority over me.”

“Mm,” Regina sighed, teeth catching her bottom lip, “make me believe it.”

Emma turned the tables by pressing her against the wall and kissing her fiercely. They slipped under each other’s clothes, not taking much time to memorize the curves or worship in tenderness. Emma’s need to take control had always been a turn on for Regina, but this was different now that Emma really wasn’t her first officer any longer. There was no holding back, no need to respect regulation.

The hand splayed on Regina’s stomach was warm. Her eyes slipped closed as it crept up, nails grazing her ribs as she sucked in a gasp. Emma chuckled into her mouth and let her tongue tease in time with her hand. By the time she got to a lace encased breast, Regina was in fits of gasps and moans. Her delight was masked behind heavy eyelids; she wished she could share her elation with Emma but she couldn’t get a word in edgewise much less pry an eye open.

“E-emmaaah,” came tumbling out of her mouth instead.

Snickering over the rapid pulse of Regina’s neck, Emma started to scale back on her ministrations. “Do you need a minute?”

“No-no!” Regina replied in a rush. She pulled Emma back up and clashed her own mouth against the self-satisfied grin.

They moaned together, Emma grasping around a waist as Regina rubbed up against her. The air became thick with tension but of a different kind. It wasn’t so much spite and threat as it was affection and anticipation. How long had they waited? How many nights had they imagined these very circumstances? They dared not guess. Too long to describe and too many nights to count.

Their breaths came fast and broken in their anticipation to consummate a foregone conclusion. They knew it would happen, however unconsciously, that their paths would lead to this. Their careers prevented them from seeing it. Time whittled courage, distance hindered passion. The need to translate this chemistry.

Their mouths came together again and again. Hands slid up arms, breaths hitched to daring touch. Regina blindly reached for Emma’s hair and tugged. Emma continued to lap at the base of Regina’s neck, her arousal mounting with every pull on her roots.

The deep pull in their groins grew and thickened and intensified until it was so taught they could scream. There was no other option but to wrap arms about one another and melt in a puddle on the floor.

At the precise moment their knees were about to buckle, the front door opened with a _whoosh_.

Emma reeled back on wobbly legs while Regina pressed her hands against the wall behind her as a means to ground herself. They stood gaping at their visitor.

“You know, kid… you have to be the only person in the galaxy with any authority over Regina and I.”

Regina hid her blush with a turn of her head. The smile could not be contained if she wanted it that way.

Henry seemed too preoccupied with his own news to note the flushed cheeks and heaving chests.

“William sent me,” he managed between swift breaths. “They found something big hidden in the code. And when I say big I mean a major, colossal breakthrough.”

Emma’s and Regina’s eyes met. They recognized the lingering arousal as it continued to swirl and dance in their blood. Expectation still tip-toed on the surface, raising the flesh and prompting a shudder.

“Mom?”

Their heads twisted in unison.

His hands on hips stance matched Regina perfectly but the disbelieving soar of his brows were all Emma.

“This is kind of important,” he stressed with a superior roll of his eyes.

Emma and Regina agreed jointly with “Sure thing,” and “Of course, sweetheart.” So apologetic, so indulgent.

Henry smirked. He could get used to this.


	10. Chapter 10

The alien spaceship could not appear any more alien. It was definitely not from this galaxy. Its dimensions were not that of humanoid invention. Consequently, the darkly exotic find dropped an unsettling pit into their stomachs.

Its size was enormous. It could cast a shadow so long it would have overcome the _Storybrooke_. Sharply cut edges, no curves or organic touch in the slightest. The ship’s innumerable sides gave it the look of a giant black diamond. It’s dimensions were so severe it could have cut a tear through the fabric of space. And perhaps it had for where else would it have come from if not another dimension? Or another galaxy?

Wherever this ship came from it was a long way from home. There was no doubt about that.

There was also no doubt that the discovery of the alien ship solved the energy vortex. Valdez and David had worked tirelessly to decipher the data retrieved from the anomaly and with their uncanny intuition had found hidden inside a definite signature. They pieced it together to form a sort of map – but to where?

The diamond spaceship. A few parsecs from where it had exited the vortex. On the edge of their galaxy.

There was nothing to support that the ship was crewed. They had very little to go on but some coordinates. Whether or not the ship _was_ manned, it had to be investigated. Emma and Regina accepted the mission and wasted little time in following the new coordinates.

Upon arriving, the first thing Rumple searched for was an entry point. Even with Belle’s navigational expertise, they could not find any discernable seams or doors. The discovery was a let down. How were they to determine the threat if they couldn’t board?

Regina was not willing to give up just yet and commanded Rumple to maintain velocity.

“Excuse me?”

The thinly stripped voice turned heads on the bridge. Not a single one of them knew what a trembling Lacertan sounded like but they were witnessing it now.

“I said _maintain velocity_. Do you not understand a simple directive?”

For a moment it seemed like Rumple would argue, but then his yellow eyes shifted and he caved under the hard gaze. He wordlessly turned in his chair and resumed their present course.

On approach, the _Storybrooke_ slipped into the ghostly region cast by the alien ship. Shadows slipped like fingers over their consoles, chairs, the floor, everything but themselves. It was like the dark had not the taste for sentient flesh. Only the durasteel would catch – the hard planes and cold nature of inorganics.

Emma eyed the ship from her standing position. “Anyone getting a bad vibe or is it just me?”

Ruby suppressed a shiver. “No, definitely not just you.”

The derelict ship loomed. It filled their view screen and offered them an intimate look at its ever-so-smooth exterior.

“That’s fine right here, Rumple.”

Rumple shook his head and muttered, “Oh, _now_ you tell me?”

Before their eyes could make a sweep of the area, something began to change. A whitish blue outline of a circle appeared in its surface. It looked to seer forth, burning a hole in its seemingly impenetrable hull.

“Is that supposed to be a door?” Emma asked.

“An airlock,” Regina corrected. “That’s where we will board.”

“And we’re just going to go in wherever they please?” When no one replied, Emma shrugged to keep the spine-tingling feeling at bay. “Yeah, sure. Why not?”

Regina turned to her. “If you don’t want to go, I can send someone else.”

“No!” Emma cleared her throat and dropped her voice so only Regina could hear her. “No, you don’t have to do that.”

She knew why Regina made the suggestion. She also know why Regina looked pained when suggesting it. It took years for a captain to banish emotion from their command, and even then it wasn’t removed, not completely. Regina always prided herself on logical decision making, but she was as sentient as the rest of them and just as susceptible to personal feelings.

If Regina had once been impassive and staunchly resisting the pull of her own heart, she was not demonstrating so today.

With everyone (including Moira) on the bridge, Emma felt bold enough to reassure Regina by closing into her space and touching her jaw. “Don’t worry,” she mused. “We’re lightyears from any hostile Korobians.”

The roguish smile warmed Regina inside and out. The memory of it thrust out the shiver and shadow the alien ship imposed. For a moment, it was enough for her to forget she was sending the woman she loved into the saberwolf’s den.

“Emma’s right.” David came up behind them. He sported a brave face, leaving no room for argument. “There’s nothing to worry about because I will be accompanying her.”

Emma held her face in her hands. “ _David_ …”

“This is not a field trip, Mr. Nolan,” Regina explained over the moan. “Wasn’t it you who explicitly told me that you are a ‘gods damned scientist’? And here you are asking to –“

“I’m not asking.”

Emma threw her hand in the air. “Well then…”

“With all due respect, Commander,” David shifted his gaze between Regina and Emma, “I feel I would be an asset to this operation. I have already proven my expertise by decoding an extragalactic language.”

“With Valdez’s help,” Emma supplied.

“Commander?”

Regina had her arms crossed. She stared hard into the eyes of her chief science officer, a subordinate she had seen grow before her eyes from a young, nerve wracked scientist into a man willing to sacrifice anything for his friends. They knew each other well enough to realize what (or who) was at stake for Regina.

“Emma, Mr. Nolan will assist you in the investigation. Stay in constant contact and report anything of significance.” She cast David an appreciative look. “And your expertise is welcome.”

Emma rolled her eyes with a sigh.

“That _is_ an order.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

Emma left to change and gear up for the operation, leaving the rest of the crew to prepare for docking. Regina bided her time by reviewing hyperdrive stats but she found she didn’t have the patience for it. She discarded her datapad, placed her hands on her hips, and worried at her lip. When her eyes landed on David’s methodical packing she found herself moving.

“A moment?”

David withdrew from his thoughts as his captain passed by. He followed her out into the corridor with about as many curiosities as he had fingers. She slowed to a stop in one of the dead end hallways. When she turned, David had to conceal his double take. She looked out of sorts, swallowing repeatedly as if trying to get over a lump in her throat and diverting her eyes in aimless directions. David had seen his captain worried before, but not to _this_ extent.

“David…”

Oh, this wasn’t good.

“David, how long have we known each other?”

His mouth opened and closed. “Uh, five years. Give or take a few months?”

Regina stepped forward so they were but a pace apart. Her arms hung limp at her sides. She looked at him like he was her last hope. “Bring her back.”

“Is that an order?”

Anger hadn’t spurred him to ask. Anyone else would have been offended, but this wasn’t just anyone. This was her loyal German shepherd. Her annoyingly gifted scientist who shared the same dopey smile with someone she cared for. David was the friend and colleague she could not have asked for, nor earned. She did nothing to deserve him and yet here he was, five years later, standing with her in their most dire situation yet.

“It’s a promise. Promise me, David. Please.”

“Okay. I promise.”

Regina shut her eyes, annoyed more so with herself for losing composure. “You have to use the words.”

“I’ll bring her back. I promise.”

The great breath Regina took in filled her with relief. “Thank you.”

David smiled. “Thank me when we return in one piece.”

* * *

David and Emma traveled through the _Storybrooke’s_ umbilical and exited through the airlock. Once the hatch sealed shut behind them, their undertaking began.

David had already checked the oxygen levels before leaving the _Storybooke_. They were all shocked to read the results: 78% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, and other trace elements that constituted breathable air. Not a single toxin or deadly gas. The ship also had perfect air pressure, eliminating the need for decompression. An odd discovery. Emma herself was relieved she wouldn’t have to bother with a pressurized helmet.

Their tactical clothes were close fitting and made of a dark mesh that made for flexible movement. They brought little gear with them besides glow sticks and David’s trusty GPR scanner. They each carried a blaster that was strapped to their hips. In addition, Emma wouldn’t leave without her vibroknife. For close encounters.

After cracking their glow sticks to life, Emma and David studied their surroundings. The interior of the craft was doused in eerie silence. Emma had to work her jaw and scrub her ears just to prove it wasn’t due to years of blasting music into them. The only sound came from them – their boots scuffing the floor, the rustle of their clothes, and their own breathing.

David raised his finger to his earpiece. “ _Storybrooke_ , do you copy?”

 _“Away team, this is_ Storybrooke _. You’re coming in clear.”_

“Hey, Ruby, you think you can cut the formalities?” Emma panned around the circular room and the corridors that branched out from it. “I don’t think we’re being spied on. And even if we were… aliens don’t speak English.”

_“You sound rather confident, Miss Swan, for someone who has not met the crew.”_

“Base it on my record with hostile aliens.”

_“Yes, because that always works well for you.”_

Emma detected the quiver in Regina’s voice – it was subtle but she heard it well enough – so she dropped it. “Okay, David and I are proceeding. We’re going to sweep the first level and report back.”

_“Comms on. At all times.”_

Emma suppressed her exasperation. “Copy that.”

With a sigh, David pointed his light at each of the three forked hallways. They were similar in their convex shape but the middle was markedly larger. He jerked his head towards the center. “Here?”

Emma shrugged. “Got to start somewhere.”

They walked ahead and through more darkness. There were no lights and no doorways, and more importantly there was no crew.

“You smell that?”

“Yeah,” she muttered, watching the prints David’s boots were making ahead of her. “Dust.”

“You know…” He turned to her and lowered his glow stick. “If this ship had a crew, the last thing I’d expect is dust. The floor… the air… it’s heavy with disuse.”

Emma nodded. “We must be the only ones to walk this ship in a while. How long would you say?”

“It’s impossible to determine without proper equipment.” He put his hands on his hips and took in the curved bulkheads. “I sure could use my atmospheric dating scanner right now.”

“Well, I’m not ready to go back.” Emma thrust back her shoulders and gestured ahead with her glow stick. “Care to do some exploring?”

“Lead on.”

The further they ventured down the corridor the more they believed that the ship was vacant after all. There was not a whisper of its abandoned crew – if there were any crew in the first place. While there were no signs of passengers, they did detect a prevalent hum. They hardly noticed it until they walked deeper into the ship. Faint vibrations came from the bulkheads and underneath their feet. It was like the ship was alive, and yet it was cold to touch.

David neared a column that protruded from the wall and was the height of the corridor. He inspected the surface and concluded by the matte black that it was far from the glossy durasteel he was used to seeing on the _Storybrooke_. This was a foreign material he hadn’t seen or touched before. He pressed his ear to the column, closed his eyes, and listened.

If the vibrations beneath his feet were obscure before, they were singing to him now. The sound waves caressed his ears like a friendly handshake. He listened more closely, tuning out Emma’s restless boot heel and pressing his ear closer. The waves contained a pattern… a repeating pattern…

David, half fascinated and half petrified, murmured, “It’s like the ship wants to speak to me.”

“In what language?” Emma asked with aggravated roll of her eyes.

“I don’t know, but I’ll take a recording of the sound waves and see if I can make sense of them later.”

Emma scanned their surroundings. “You do that.”

She brought her hands to her hips and peered in the distance. The hallway seemed to go on forever into darkness. She was starting to get anxious.

“Emma, don’t go too far. Emma, _wait_.”

She didn’t hear him. The cold, creeping stir at the back of her neck intensified. She raised the glow stick higher and froze at the outline of a door. Its edges were curved like the corridor walls. The way was open, free for her to enter without so much as a knock.

Swift, clapping footsteps brought David beside her. “Hey, nice going. Looks like you found the main bridge.”

“It’s the only entryway we’ve seen since coming down this way.”

David shrugged it off. “Lucky, I guess.”

He went inside, but a sense of foreboding had her hanging back. “Lucky,” she echoed to herself. She touched her earpiece. “ _Storybrooke_ , we’ve arrived on the bridge. _Storybrooke_?”

The garbled sound of her name made them wince. Emma looked to David who shook his head in return. They were getting nothing but static.

“There must be something in here that’s jamming our signal...”

David’s voice dragged off as he shined his light around. The bluish glow picked up a darkened view screen and what looked to be a main console. Every surface contained a coating of dust. Stranger yet: they stood in a circular room with no windows, no flight seats, switches, or keys.

“Okay,” Emma said, “I guess no one’s home.”

“And here I thought we’d get more answers than questions.”

David dried his hands on his thighs before approaching the center. The console had the look of a table that jut out from the view screen.

When Emma realized what he intended to do, she took a quick step forward. “You sure you should be touching that?”

He gave her a look before descending his hand. His palm met the surface. Cool and foreign, just like the column he happened upon earlier. The dust collected on his perspiring palm. He let the pads of his fingers touchdown. He received no response.

Emma let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. She threw her hands in the air and spun away from his antics. “And I thought _I_ was reckless.”

“You see?” David grinned. “Just a normal console.”

The second his hand rose off the surface, the bridge powered up with a growing whirr. Above the console, the view screen went from shadow to blazing white light in an instant.

“Argh!” they exclaimed. Their hands went up to shield from the light. It flashed once, twice, three times before going dark again.

“Damn,” grumbled Emma, “the least they could do was give us a warning before taking our picture.”

David blinked against the lingering black spots in his vision. “I highly doubt they wanted our picture.”

“How do you know?”

“Hey, do you hear that?”

Emma rolled her eyes behind her scrubbing hands. “What did you touch now?”

And then she heard it: a soft chirp. Slow at first, then rapid and leading to staccato tones as if the main computer was warming up. When the view screen lit up again it was replaced by a softer light. A green, grid-like projection emitted from the screen and passed over them from head to toe.

They froze, not making any sudden movements as the light glazed over them.

“Uh, David…? What’s it doing?”

“I-I think we’re being scanned.”

“For what?” she asked from the corner of her mouth, making sure to keep her eyes locked ahead.

“Our DNA.”

“How can you tell?”

David nudged his chin to the side console. Hovering there was a small hologram of a strand of human DNA. It revolved slowly, displaying every angle of the chain.

Emma swallowed as she took in the main bridge with an eye for the unusual. “Whoever built this ship wasn’t human.”

“They may not even be humanoid,” David said. “Look…”

Emma turned back to the hologram which was now flashing red. A steady beep accompanied the flashes.

“Woah, they must not like our genetics.”

Suddenly, the entire bridge spun into chaos. Blaring alarms rang and a blood red light flooded the room. The ground beneath their feet quaked. The entire ship was coming to life.

“Aaah, that doesn’t sound good,” Emma said, already turning towards the exit. “Time to leave.”

“Wait.”

Emma screeched to a halt and spun on him with a livid face. “Wait?! Are you spaced out? Look at that thing!”

In place of their DNA strands was a symbol which appeared one moment and was replaced by another.

“I’m not fluent in alien languages, but with these red lights and alarms something tells me that right there is a countdown.”

“It’s not going to detonate.”

Emma gawked at him as he flew from one side of the bridge to the other. His hands ran over surfaces, searching for an access port. “Are you going to tell me why not?” she demanded. “Those bells are warning us of something and it sure as seven hells isn’t summoning us for tea.”

“Well,” David said, eyes roving the bridge and scratching his head, “the ship was carrying no passengers, otherwise, where are the furnishings? The supplies and provisions? No, I think the ship was sent here – or more accurately: programmed here. Its purpose was probably to gather information and study whatever and whoever it could.”

Emma had her hands on her hips at this point and was pinning him with a severe look. “And what happens when it’s completed its mission, David? What does it do now?”

“Best guess?” With his breathing hard and his eyes wide, he finally met Emma with an answer. “It’s going home.”

Emma could hardly breathe; her pulse was racing so fast. When she gathered her wits, she inhaled little by little before letting it out. She nodded. “We need to go.”

“We didn’t come here for nothing, Emma. I just need to find a port to download the flight plan. It could contain trillions of terrabytes of information! Information that could open gateways to other dimensions, answer all our questions about black holes –“

“David, this is _not_ the time to geek out. I’m serious!”

“We can find out where they came from. Just give me a minute!”

“We might not _have_ a minute!”

“Go ahead,” David said distractedly. He was wetting his lips over and over again. The hum of the ship grew louder. “I’ll be right behind you. Once I find the flight recorder I can send data by remote to the _Storybrooke_.”

Emma’s hand crawled into her hair and grasped it in tuffs. She looked from him to the corridor outside. It was tearing her apart.

His breathing was heavy and his eyes as wide as hers, but when he stopped searching and turned to her he looked as levelheaded as she’d ever seen him in the field or out of it.

“She’s waiting for you.”

Emma understood and yet she clenched her fists tighter. “What about Killian? Who the hell do you think _he’s_ waiting for?”

"Go," David urged, "before I remember I'm just a blasted scientist."

Emma was backing out of the room and shaking her head. She held David in her fierce, pleading gaze. “You better be right behind me,” she said and turned her back.

Outside the main bridge, the overhead lights had flickered on. They gave off a sickly green glow, but now the corridor was much clearer.

When she was ten meters out from the bridge, her earpiece crackled to life. Emma had almost forgotten about the thing and nearly cried out in relief.

“Regina!” Emma choked out. Her eyes watered as she struggled to keep up the pace. “I’m really sorry about the comms –“

_“I don’t care about that. I want you back here now, Emma. Belle is getting a heat signature from the engines on that ship and it is escalating by the second.”_

“I am blasted aware of that,” she griped. The corridor took a bend, but she didn’t dare slow down and she almost slipped in the process. “We’ve probably got less than a minute here…” Her throat clamped shut unexpectedly and she hoped she’d hear footfalls behind her soon. In the meantime, she was hearing quick strides emanating from her comms.

_“I’m already on my way to the airlock. You better be ready by the time I get there or I swear to gods –“_

“I _got_ it, Regina!”

The pain in Emma’s side intensified. Her breathing was coming in fast and ragged. She felt the sweat pour down the sides of her face like angry raindrops. This was not what she had in mind for an investigation of an alien vessel. The last thing she expected when she got up that morning was a sprint through a maze work of corridors and being cheered on by sirens.

Suddenly, the ground beneath her quaked. Her boots scrambled for purchase and her hands flailed out to catch something. Eyes blown wide to the near spill, Emma made a panicked study of the bulkheads. The ship was coming to life. In a few minutes it would take her away from the only galaxy she’d every known.

“Shit, shit, shit.”

_“Emma?”_

Hearing the labored breathing on Regina’s end, Emma didn’t know whether it was from the fright or the exercise. Definitely both, she thought as she threw on a burst of speed.

“Ten seconds,” Emma answered. She was nearly there and had the airlock door in her sights. It was just ahead and almost within reach.

The ship was pulsating more consistently now. If Emma didn’t know any better, she would have thought they were _moving_. She was running as fast as she could, but what if it wasn’t enough? If she didn’t make it, she would be pulled along with the craft and shipped to a foreign galaxy. She’d be taken from her friends, her family, her home.

The prospect was terrible enough to pick up her speed. Heart pounding painfully in her ribcage, she almost laughed with relief at the sight of Regina on the other side. She could see her face in the small porthole of _Storybrooke’s_ airlock. It was just an alien hatch away, just a few meters of umbilical to pass through and she could have that beautiful face in her hands.

* * *

Several years with this insufferable risk taker did a number on Regina’s nerves. Every time Emma stepped off the ship she had to worry for her safety and that of the mission. Regina wondered when it had started. It wasn’t just the mission that became secondary. She put Emma before her crew and her ship. That woman was first and foremost in her mind every moment of every day.

Maybe it started when Emma left. The great distance between them and the time away from each other that Regina couldn’t brush past her or behold her myriad expressions took its toll. Maybe it started when the cider spilled in her office and Emma pulled her fist back – the first time anyone defied her command. She feared even then that Emma would leave her.

The threat of that loss came back to haunt her over the years whether Emma was under her command or abandoned from it. She may not have accepted her growing fondness or how it was changing her as a woman, but her nerves were in a vice grip time and time again.

The thought of losing Emma to her own cold ego…

The thought of losing Emma to a prophecy…

The thought of losing Emma to death…

Everyone dies, she told herself. She drilled herself of this every time Emma left the ship. Emma would always leave the ship, and come back in haphazard states whether bleeding, broken, or inevitably dead.

Everyone dies…

That didn’t mean Regina couldn’t do anything about it this time. She was still a commander. She still had her ship and her crew. She was still in possession of a heart, one that put a girl before everything else.

_“Regina!”_

The choking cry tore Regina from a bottomless pit of what ifs. She leaned forward in her chair, hand pressed to her stomach and the churning nausea within.

_“I’m really sorry about the comms –“_

Regina was already shaking her head. She then realized Emma wasn’t there to see it and nearly collapsed to her knees. “I don’t care about that. I want you back here now, Emma.” Her eyes flit to the nav-com and the furious labor it was getting. She swallowed over the lump in her throat. “Belle is getting a heat signature from the engines on that ship and it is escalating by the second.”

_“I am blasted aware of that.”_

The aggressive tone put Regina in motion. Of all the crew to spur her into command mode…

_“We’ve probably got less than a minute here…”_

After muttering a few instructions to Belle and the rest of her officers, Regina sprinted off. She snagged the comlink from Ruby’s outstretched hand, not bothering to bid her loyal officers luck or farewell.

“I’m already on my way to the airlock.” Riding the turbolift, Regina controlled her heart rate with a few slow breaths. She cleared her throat and slipped her earpiece in place. When she was done and she felt the lift slowing down, her eyes were practically burning a hole into the doors with impatience. “You better be ready by the time I get there or I swear to gods –“

_“I got it, Regina!”_

In the heat of the moment, it hadn’t occurred to Regina to ask after David. It was yet another instance of her putting Emma before everyone else. It was yet another reason why she had become emotional compromised and unfit for command. If only Cosmofleet knew… They’d have a field day with her.

Instead of fretting over liability and court marshal, Regina shucked it all for the sound of a single voice.

Her manic sprint took her down several corridors on deck. She screeched to a halt before the airlock, out of breath and eyes wide and searching. She placed her hands flat against the hatch and leaned closer. Her breath came fast and hard, building fog on the porthole window. She watched for streaking fair hair but no such thing appeared.

“Emma?”

Her heart shook with the name and she soon learned why. This wasn’t the first time Emma had been made to race against the clock. Regina waited with baited breath, remembering how the countdown of _Storybrooke’s_ robotic voice expressed its warning.

The heat of her ship’s ion generator had felt like dawn on her face. Her wondrous expression basked in it. Would she feel the same when the alien ship escaped? Would its engines give off the heat of a sunrise or the chill of twilight?

The countdown… the heat of the generator… yet another loss approaching… She remembered the way her heart was in her throat like it was now. That was it, she realized. That was when this all started for her, when she started to _need_. In a time when she thought she felt nothing, now she felt _everything_.

Regina gasped out loud just as Emma came into her sights. In the limited frame that the porthole offered, she thought she spied her laughing. Regina had to clamp down on the “ _idiot_ ” crawling up her throat.

“ _Commander_ ,” Ruby squawked into her ear, “ _the engines are at full capacity. It’s preparing to make the jump to hyperspace. Are they with you? Regina? Are Emma and David with you?!_ ”

“Emma,” Regina said, blinking the sting from her eyes. “Emma, quickly. _Hurry_ …”

Emma was too out of breath to respond. She had slapped the hatch release and was now clambering down the umbilical on wobbly legs. There was a hiss as the airlock sealed shut behind her. The umbilical shook unsteadily to the juking alien ship. If it made the jump, the seal would break and leave Emma open to the vacuum of space.

Everyone dies…

“Please,” Regina whispered.

Her hand hovered and trembling over the airlock release as her mother’s had that day long ago. This time was different though because the hand intended on opening a door and not closing it on her future.

The next few moments passed like a blur. Regina would hardly remember them later. The only thing she would come away with was the sound of her blood pumping in her ears.

When Emma was just three feet from the airlock, Regina engaged the hatch door. The air rushed in with Emma as she streaked through the door and sailed into waiting arms.

The fell in a heap on the floor. Everything vibrated around them, the floor, the bulkheads, the umbilical, and death beyond. Regina scrambled on her hands and knees to the airlock and slapped the hatch shut with a panicked shriek.

“She’s in! Disengage!”

The airlock clamps gave a metallic screech. A hiss of released air sounded from the other side and the umbilical receded. The _Storybrooke_ disengaged from the alien ship just as it departed in a trail of sparkling plasma.

Regina threw her earpiece to the side and collapsed. She felt Emma crawl up behind her and press into her back, chin on her shoulder and panting in her ear. Regina gripped the arms that wound around her. Together they sagged against the wall, spent and weeping.

Time seemed hazy and indeterminate as a fog. They didn’t know how long they’d been sitting there when they heard Killian’s footsteps. They didn’t hazard a guess as to how he had gotten there or when the _Jolly Roger_ had arrived.

The clomping boot heels were accompanied by a wheezing sound. He stopped at their feet, bent over, and clutched his knees. “David… Where’s David?”

The only reply he got was the sound of their panting. He straightened and let his arms fall lifelessly to his sides. The porthole offered a view of the stars and a sloping plasma stream. His face collapsed and warped through a number of emotions.

When he had experienced the brunt of them, he stumbled back, arm out for something solid but he grasped nothing but air. When the weight of his feelings hit him, he fell. His kneecaps met the cold, polished floor and his voice cracked, “I…” and he choked over a sob.

Killian laid his face in his hands, breathing in and breathing out. Space, it seemed, and all its frosty neglect swallowed him whole. When his head rose, he showed them his bloodshot eyes and a grimace.

His fists swung down and shook at his side. Full of vengeance, he looked to the plasma trail outside and roared his lungs out. “ _Where is he?!”_   

Emma and Regina were still trying to catch their breath from the ordeal. They strained against their blurring vision, brains slowing from lack of oxygen. They blacked out before they could break the news.

* * *

Regina stared across her desk at the humanoid drinking from her cider. He tilted his glass back for a taste and placed it back on the coaster without a single drop lost in the process. For someone who grew up in swampland, he certainly knew manners.

Being accompanied by a flatfooted Lacertan was a definite change of pace for Regina. Rumple rarely left the helm. For his part, he preferred it that way only because he didn’t trust anyone to keep his calibrations exactly as they were. He could tell within seconds of his hands laying on the controls whether or not they were off by a degree. It was as much his domain as captain’s quarters was Regina’s.

They had convened in her office for the purpose of strategy. Of her senior officers, Rumple was the most experienced crewmember and most skilled pilot (barring Emma). She needed his input on how the _Storybrooke_ would handle a full scale attack. Since it’s first commission the grand old ship had endured skirmishes with pirates and Korobians and explorations through geomagnetic storms, ionizing radiation, and meteoroid bombardments, but never an intergalactic war.

After the incident on the alien ship, there was much to suggest that this was not the only ship they would encounter out in the Outer Reach. The problem was, they hadn’t yet translated the data downloaded from the ship’s flight recorder. David had been responsible for all duties related to science and with him gone, they had no backup but Valdez and he was still stationed on Valeria.

“And why can’t he come straight to us?” Rumple inquired with his piercing yellow eyes. “Isn’t time of the essence?”

“The _Storybrooke_ is the fastest ship in the galaxy,” Regina scolded. “What makes you think we can’t get there first before any more alien ships drop in?”

“A commander who believes the tabloids shouldn’t be in a position of authority.”

“Save your bitter objections for someone who cares, Rumple. If you say the ship can stand the force of an assault than I will believe you.”

Rumple displayed his distrust with a frown. The skin of his gold flecked forehead puckered to doubts he easily clung to on a daily basis.

Regina rolled her eyes. “You have been flying under my command since the _Storybrooke_ was handed over to me. You have known her longer than I have.”

“Only a year longer.”

“Still, you know the ship like no one else. Maybe even Mr. Leroy.”

“Well,” Rumple wiggled his head and trilled happily, “ _that_ is a compliment, dearie.”

Regina fought the bubbling sensation in her gut. Now she understood why she never held meetings with him like this. No one else prompted a case of indigestion quite like Rumple.

“Now,” she rose from her chair and rounded her desk, “if you have anything else to add to your report I suggest you do so at your earliest convenience. As you put: time is of the essence.”

“It is indeed.” Rumple stood and straightened his uniform with a quick tug. “Which means I have a helm to return to. That is… if Miss Lucas hasn’t spilled nail polish all over it.”

She followed him out and into the corridor. They were on their way back to the bridge when they heard a commotion. The sounds of squeaking shoes and thumping echoed from afar. It almost sounded as if someone was getting a beating.

Regina and Rumple hurried towards the scuffle and when they arrived they both gaped in alarm.

Emma was a foot off the ground and pinned to the corridor wall with the help of her pirate friend. Killian had the collar of her jacket bunched in his fists. He was roughing her up good if the reddening blemish on her jaw was anything to go by.

Regina’s back went rigid. She may not be able to tell, but her eyes were practically churning boiling acid. “What in seven hells is going on here?!” She looked from Killian to Emma. The sound of her voice must have made an impression because it woke Emma from her daze. Her eyes locked with Regina and she sagged a bit in Killian’s grasp.

For a split second, all the fight slipped from Regina leaving behind a purring tenderness. The change was so startling she sucked in a gasp. One moment she could have spit fire and then next she was practically liquefied by concern.

“I thought you were taking the _Jolly Roger_ and leaving,” Regina told him, solidifying her earlier aggressiveness. “You said you were done with all of us.”

“I had unfinished business,” Killian drawled lowly and turned back to Emma, “with a _bloody_ _coward_.”

“Killian,” Emma pleaded with round eyes, “I said I was sorry. If anyone knows how you feel right now…”

“This is not the same! How dare you make comparisons! Were you in love with that stupid android? I didn’t think so!” Killian’s breathing came fast and hard against Emma’s face. He took a moment to look her up and down. Whatever he saw made his lip curl in disgust. “You think I’m selfish? You think I only care for myself? What about you, Emma? David was right there with you and what did you do? You left him. You left him on that bloody ship. He’s out there now lost and alone in some remote galaxy. When are you going to wake up and realize you’re no hero?!”

Emma reeled back. The accusation hurt, but part of her agreed with him. He may have said it out of pain, but that didn’t make it any less true. Emma’s features sagged with the realization. For the past year she thought she had learned from her time away. She thought she had made up for her mistakes and learned how to avoid hurting the same people over and over again. But with the way the consequences of her despicable actions were glaring back at her now… Maybe she hadn’t changed all that much.

Emma shook her head desperately. “I swear, I would have dragged him out of there by his heels, but he practically –“

“I don’t care if he pulled a blaster on you!”

“But that’s just it, Killian. He didn’t. I made a decision – a stupid, fucking decision – and I have to live with it.”

Killian had no other response beyond pulling back his fist. Emma’s eyes widened and she subsequently winced in anticipation. If his first punch was incited by rage, the pain magnified in his expression now would put way more knuckle into Emma’s face than previous.

A second before his fist met her face, his arm was caught. Rumple leapt in, looped his arm under Killian’s, and hauled him back.

“ _You_ have to live with it?” Killian snapped from within Rumple’s tight hold. No matter how much he struggled, Rumple was perfectly content with hissing in his ear and gripping him tight enough for his razor sharp claws to nearly sink between each and every one of his ribs.

“What you fail to grasp time and again, Emma, is that your choices affect the people around you. You think you can stand there and tell me you have to live with this? What about me? I have to carry your bloody choice with me for the rest of my life like a ghost. It’ll never leave me.”

When he was finally tapped out of strength he let his body slump. Rumple eyed his commander who nodded back. His Lacertan claws retracted, leaving behind ten tiny holes in the pirate’s shirt.

“He should never have been on that ship,” Killian rumbled. He stared at Emma from under his thick, furrowed brows. “If anyone should have stayed on that ship…“ He was cut off by his own grimace. Before anyone could blink, he lunged with arms outstretched and claimed Emma by the neck. His thumbs pressed to seal in the warning if his livid glare didn’t. He squeezed harder and screamed in her face, “ _He_ should be here, not _you_!”

“I said that’s _enough!”_ roared Regina. She clawed at his shoulder. When her nails dug in and found purchase she hauled him back with startling strength.

Killian stumbled back from the force and was left blinking. Regina stood in front of Emma with fists at her sides and a pulsing nerve at her temple. There was no getting past her. Not for anything in the galaxy.

Regina backed him into the wall with her steely influence. Years of experience lent her the skills to make the brave and the heartless cower in their boots. She advanced with slow, lethal steps, each boot heel connecting with floor in a devastating clack. “Listen, pirate, and listen good. I may not have any authority over a good for nothing scoundrel like you, but when you are on my ship you will carry yourself with dignity and treat my crew with the respect they deserve.”

Regina then tilted her head, looking so far removed from the caring woman Henry had tamed her into and more like her old Evil Queen alter ego. “And one more thing,” she indicated with a blind pointing of her finger over a shoulder, “You do not touch her. Ever again. You do not look at her like that. Ever again. And if you are foolish enough to do either of those, your brain cells will have no time to fashion your poorly crafted snark before you find yourself flushed out of a gods forsaken airlock. I don’t give a damn if there isn’t one around. I’d find one, put you in it, and give you a nice icy send off.” When there was only a pace between them Regina smirked wickedly and arched a single brow. “I hear space likes its pirates as undercooked as an ice cube.”

Killian’s lip curled but he said nothing. It was all he had left after Emma stripped David from him and Regina of his pride. With a growling sob, he stormed off.

Emma had no choice but to gawk at the whole confrontation. She leaned back against the wall from sheer exhaustion and touched her purpling neck. Her whole head pounded and her jaw was swore. She tried swallowing, but soon realized that hurt too. The encounter would leave some bruising come the next morning in addition to some damage to her ego. And yet that was nothing compared to what Killian was going through.

When Emma felt a presence approach she lurched back on instinct.

“It’s me,” Regina said softly. The instant surrender left her wonderstruck.

Once Emma felt the fingertips on her jaw, she felt a tingling warmth spread out from where Regina touched.

“You okay?”

Emma swallowed the bitter dose of reality Killian had dealt her and nodded. Regina’s thumb traced her bottom lip before the backs of her fingers brushed Emma’s cheek. Emma hummed at the peace afforded to her flushed skin. Regina’s touch, she was learning, soothed her as effectively as a mild sedative.

A crackle of the intercom broke the moment. “ _Commander_ ,” Ruby called, “ _I have William hailing the_ Storybrooke _. He says it’s urgent._ ”

“Acknowledged. We’re on our way.”

There wasn’t much to talk about on the ride in the turbolift. A commander, her lover, and her helmsman all crowded in the lift made things awkward if anything and had them diverting gazes the whole time.

When they arrived on the bridge Regina made straight for the holotable, Emma and Rumple fast on her heels. They all gathered around with cloying anxieties and spaced out guesses as to what wretched adventure was in store for them next.

Regina accepted the transmission with a press of a button on the console. Rising up from the holotable was the head of William, all crinkled brow and gray expression.

 _“Regina, what’s going on?”_ he asked earnestly. _“I’ve been trying to get a hold of you.”_

A cock of the head accompanied Regina’s severe look. “We’ve been a bit busy, William.”

_“Well, things are about to get busier. Remember that vortex you and Emma investigated?”_

“The one that knocked out my shuttle’s instruments and left us stranded?”

William winced under her piercing sarcasm. _“Ah, well, yes. That one.”_ He scratched the back of his neck and continued. _“My recon team has been tracking it and the results are startling. It is growing increasingly active. The data is streaming in and, although Valdez is having a hard time keeping up, what we do have is not good.”_

“What exactly is the data telling you?”

_“That the vortex is growing in size. About a mile ever hour.”_

“What could explain this?” Regina asked. “Have your scout ships approached the area? Threatened the vortex in some way?”

William shook his head. _“I’ve given strict orders of no engagement. They are keeping a perimeter but from a safe distance so as not to attract attention.”_

Emma frowned. “So if it’s nothing _we_ did, what about the other side?”

Regina quirked a brow at her. “You mean from the other side of the vortex? An alternate galaxy, dear?” She had to hold back the snort.

 _“We already have evidence to support that this vortex is a portal,”_ William pointed out. _“It may be growing to allow for the passing through of some matter.”_

“If we’re talking a mile an hour,” Emma said, “then whatever is coming through must be blasted enormous.”

_“This is why I’ve been trying to reach you. I’ve already contacted the High Council. They’re gathering with us in oh eight hundred hours. I’m mobilizing the whole fleet as is Cosmofleet.”_

“Vaporize me,” mumbled Emma. “The entire fleet?”

 _“We may have very little to go on – I understand that and so does the High Council, but the fact of the matter is we have no choice but to act swiftly and with everything that we have. I for one will not take even the_ possibility _of an invasion lightly. And you shouldn’t either, Emma. You helped prevent a war and several years of casualties. I’d hate to think you braved that feat for nothing.”_

Emma rolled her eyes. “That’s one way of putting it, but yeah I get what you’re saying.”

William nodded. His grateful eyes assured her that he may not have lived in her shoes but he recognized the fight in her like he’d seen it in every man, woman, and child Freedom Raider. He had served alongside people who survived because of her. His friends and comrades would not be alive today if it hadn’t been for her spunk and her encouraging words.

He turned to Regina, his expression turning grim but beseeching. _“I need the_ Storybrooke _on the front lines. She’s got more speed and agility than any craft – Cosmofleet or Raider.”_

“I would accept...” Regina caught the stiffening figures in her periphery and shared their cloying gut feeling, “but one of my crew has gone MIA.”

William ducked his head somberly. _“I’m very sorry. Truly. If circumstances were not dire, I would not ask any more from you or your crew.”_

Regina sighed. Her downcast eyes dropped to the floor. “You don’t have to ask. We are ready to do what is expected of us. All of us.”

_“That is good to hear. I will forward the coordinates to your navigator. Moira and I will convene with you and your officers at the rendezvous point.”_

“Acknowledged.”

They exchanged firm nods before ending the transmission.

Regina turned and leaned back on the table with arms folded over her chest. She tucked her chin down. Her pensive expression offered no room for interruption. Whenever the captain was undergoing an internal strategy session like this, her officers knew not to bother her. When she wanted their input they would be asked.

When the anticipation became too much, it was Emma who raised the issue no one would touch with a ten foot spanner.

“Anyone concerned with how fast Cosmofleet are aligning themselves with the Raiders?”

Ruby shrugged a shoulder. “Desperate times…”

“Maybe they are finally coming to their senses,” Regina said, still half deep in thought. “If Admiral Hopper is leading things, they are at least halfway towards reason.”

“I’m still not comforted by the thought of them working together,” Emma admitted with slight twitch. “Admiral Hopper may be a wise enough guy, but he can’t control the entire High Council.”

“His voice is enough for the Council as yours was for the Raiders. Sometimes people are so frightened by the thought of choice that they want someone else to tell them what to do.”

Regina’s statement prompted a question in all of them. In the quiet they were left to turn it over in their minds. They all waited with baited breath, looking to their commander to guide them.

Emma raised a brow. “And… are you…?”

“Yes.” Regina’s voice could barely be heard over their own pounding hearts. “Yes, I am, but not to the point of indecision.” Her head rose to display the determination they all yearned for. “We joined Cosmofleet to discover unknown worlds and new life forms, and to be a champion to the weak and an enforcer against those that prey on the weak.”

She attended to each of them with the grave honesty of her eyes. “If that’s not what you signed up for, I recommend you get a ride from Killian Jones. He has expressed his loyalty to self-preservation. There are no hard feelings should you take that path. I wish you safe voyage if you do.”

Not a single one of them moved, nor did they break eye contact. Emma, Ruby, Belle, and Rumple… They held their heels firmly to the polished floor, chins level, and backs as straight as when she walked down their lines on recruitment day. All but David who may not have been present but if he were he would have been his captain’s staunchest supporter, as he always had been.

She gave them the rare gift of a smile and a glistening tear for the one that _should_ have been among them. When she breathed she felt several doubts lighter and never more grateful to have these four as officers – to work, to live, and to fight with into the vast cosmic unknown.

* * *

Emma, Regina, and their senior officers met with the Caines on _Rogue Talon_. It was the first time the Raider base had left Valeria’s orbit since the armistice and urged everyone to take stock of the risks. The stakes were higher than ever before despite the undetermined factors surrounding the energy vortex.

The session was attended by key political and military figures and they convened with the sole purpose of reaching an accord. Contingencies were discussed and strategies proposed. They all sat around the circular table as they had four years ago when Anderson tasked Emma and Regina to go before Cosmofleet with terms for a treaty; a treaty which Admiral George had struck down.

The cast of characters currently seated proved just how much things had changed. Cosmofleet and the Freedom Raiders were no longer at odds. No matter how unlikely it would have seemed before, now they had found themselves on the same side and preparing to fight a common enemy. Or the possibility of one.

They had been deliberating for hours with very few breaks. Tactics and formations were proposed. Arguments were fought on who was to provide defense and who was responsible for the offensive line. At one point, Regina just gave up out of sheer exhaustion. She had been severely outnumbered and her only ally remained mute until the final vote. It made sense that Emma would be the tie breaker.

That’s how Regina was slotted to represent Cosmofleet. With Emma’s support, she was promoted to admiral and head of the entire fleet.

Regina had to cover her face and sigh into it. The last admiral to control the armada had suffered from empire delusions and severe vanity, all of which led to his ruin. Would Regina follow suit? Was the position as cursed as she feared it was?

It was too much responsibility, even for someone like Regina. Too much pressure and too much power she didn’t trust herself with, especially after the acts of violence she committed in the name of Cosmofleet. Her judgment was poor, still, and yet they saw fit to overlook her mistakes.

“There is no one more qualified to handle the position,” Emma had said. “It doesn’t have to be long-term, just until the threat is eliminated.”

Regina had to see Emma to believe what she was saying. She had to grasp her forearm and ensure that this sentient being wasn’t some hologram.

“Well then,” William said quite happily observing this exchange, “with your unwavering support of Admiral Mills, it makes perfect sense to promote you as well, Emma.”

Emma was still caught up in Regina’s awestruck moment to hear the rest. She blinked back to reality. “Excuse me?”

“As I said, we would be honored if you led the Raider convoys. We have already decided that the fleet would provide an offense due to their superior firepower and the Raiders would form a defensive line. Regina will direct Cosmofleet while Emma commands the Raiders.” William smirked and said under his breath, “As it always should have been.”

Moira shifted beside him and admitted, “There is a symmetry to it.”

When Emma’s and Regina’s eyes met they seemed to be on the same page. Finally, after all the deceptions, the warnings, the prophecy, and the lost book of tales, they understood. Fate had entwined them together like the woven fingers of a queen and her knight.

If protecting someone she loved meant embracing her destiny than Emma would do the impossible. She supported fate by reaching under the table and grabbing Regina’s hand.

She looked back to the men and woman around the table. “I guess it’s settled then.”

Regina squeezed her hand from under the table. “What of our initial approach? How do we get close enough to the vortex without arousing suspicion?”

“It’s a tricky situation,” William explained. “Valdez?”

Valdez straightened in his chair and typed on his datapad. With a flick of his fingers, he transferred the map to the table’s surface. The hologram expanded to give them a view of the vortex and its surrounding region.

“Tricky is one word. There is a reason why William’s recon teams keep their distance.” He tapped his tablet and a perimeter appeared around the vortex. “Any craft within this area is at risk of power failure. It’s a dead zone, if you will. Like Emma and Regina’s shuttle mishap, your instruments will be nonfunctional.”

Valentino quipped, “Fried as an egg on a warp drive plate.”

Clarke snorted beside him.

“Yes, _quite_.” Valdez shook his head and returned to the science. “My meaning here is that we can’t get close enough to research it much less defend against whatever springs forth from it. The votex has a means of picking up on our high energy engine signatures, honing in on the signal, and essentially destroying it with its own energy.”

The room went silent. Everyone turned over the conundrum in their heads, mulling over their options.

Emma was the first to make a suggestion. “The votex will react to the heat of an engine, but what if we don’t have one?” When she received _several_ odd stares, she leaned forward with arms gesturing to her solution. “Almost every ship at our disposal is fitted with an FTL engine that allows for the crossing of parsecs, but what about the short-range engine?”

Regina, catching on with a raised brow, leaned forward too. “You mean for short jumps?”

Emma nodded. “We shut our FTL drives down and close in around the vortex using our ion engines. We use minimal power so as not to be noticed – just until we’ve mobilized our fleets.” She gaged everyone’s expressions, looking for _someone_ to agree with her. “Once we arrive outside the perimeter, it’s a matter of a few miles into range anyway, right?”

“Well,” Valdez tilted his head, “that could work.”

Regina grinned, eyeing her partner with pride. “Emma is a woman of many surprising talents.”

Emma’s cheeks reddened. She raked her fingers through her hair. “Phuff, I’m just stating what everyone’s thinking.”

“It’s an excellent plan nonetheless,” William expressed with a nod in her direction. “Now that we have agreed on our approach, let’s discuss contingencies…”

When attention drew away from Emma, she sagged back in her chair with a sigh of relief. All those eyes on her prickled the hairs at her nape. She didn’t like being at the center of attention, even if they were acknowledging her for her genius.

* * *

It was only a few hours after they had returned to the _Storybrooke_ that Emma asked to see Regina in her quarters. Regina feigned understanding even though deep down she knew the reason for the visit. It hurt, in a way, that Emma was speeding up the process, but maybe she was the smart one. Get it over and done with like the stripping of a bandage. Regina didn’t have the courage to do it. She would have been fine delaying the inevitable.

Emma had always been the adaptable one, though. The one to dive in with little to no thought of risk. It was her ability to keep people at arms length that led them to this – Regina and Emma sitting opposite each other with a long forgotten decanter of apple cider between them.

After what Emma put herself through emotionally to get herself to captain’s quarters, all she had left was duty to family. All Regina had at her disposal was false composure.

They stared at each other in silence. A lull had settled on them after the customary “hey’s” and “please make yourself comfortable.” The words came out stiff and formal. It made everything so awkward and unlike them, like the progress they made meant nothing. They hadn’t greeted each other with a kiss or touched hands or sat next to one another on the couch. If they had done any of those things that made them happy, it would have made Emma’s reason for coming all the more difficult.

Eventually, Regina couldn’t stand to remain quiet. The hopping leg became too much and Emma clearly wasn’t ready to say whatever she came there to say. If Regina paid close enough attention she could almost hear the cogs turning in Emma’s brain, albeit slowly. It was still so adorable how hard this woman tried to impress her captain with her powers of speech.

Regina doted on her with a warm smile. She tilted her head and mused, “You finally got your wish.”

Emma shook herself out of fretful thoughts. “Oh, yeah? What is that?”

“You get to be a pilot. It’s all you ever dreamed of.”

Emma nodded but showed she had a hard time feeling the joy. “It’s ironic, for so long I thought about how I’d feel the day I was offered command of a squadron. The academy gave me a hell of a time, but I managed to scrap by. And then I was assigned to your command…”

An old anxiety niggled at Emma, one that continued to question her, so she pulled her lip between her teeth before letting it go. When she looked on Regina all that anxiety went away like radiation getting eaten by a black hole.

“This is not how I thought it would turn out, but when do our dreams ever turn out the way we expected?”

The light left Regina’s eyes and with it her image of Emma’s smiling face before her regiment. “I’m sorry.”

Emma bit back her tears and shrugged. “Hey, they never said being an adult would be easy. It’s definitely not a vacation, that’s for sure.”

“But it had it’s moments,” Regina whispered, desperate for Emma to agree.

When Emma smiled it lit up all the dark recesses of her soul. All gloomy assumptions about the future be damned. “Yeah, it _has_.”

“Emma –“

“Regina –“

“I’m sorry,” mumbled Regina very uncharacteristically and looked down in her hands. “You go first.”

“No, you were about to speak.”

“ _Emma_.”

“Okay…” Emma looked around the room. She urged her hands to lay still but they just wouldn’t so she kept them pinned under her thighs. “It’s just… I’m about to –“

“Leave. Yes, I know.”

“And I just wanted to make sure you had everything you needed before I meet with my new crew.” Emma dropped her gaze to her hands which found themselves twisting on her lap. “As you know, my command of the Raider convoys will have me outside your purview. It is customary for a second-in-command to offer any last services to their superior before resigning.”

“You never have before.” Regina smirked despite the lack of mirth behind it. “What’s changed?”

“A lot.” Emma cleared her throat and flexed her jaw. She felt the pressure in the room closing in around her. “So… if there’s no other mandate my commander has for me, then I guess I’ll be off.”

Emma took her time rising from the sofa and making her way around the other couch. She gave her commander plenty of leeway to argue. She would have welcomed it. She would have accepted pleading, praying, begging on knees, even a promise to abandon her beloved ship, take their son, and leave this all behind.

Emma thought she made herself clear that she would do anything for Regina, carry any burden, and bury any secret just to be with her.

It wasn’t until she got to the hatch and opened it that she heard the crash. Emma whirled around with a furiously beating heart. She saw Regina hovered over the broken pieces of glass and the remaining contents seeping into the carpet.

Emma was there in a heartbeat. She got down on her knees, careful to mind the shards, and help clean up. But she found that the decanter wasn’t the only thing broken. Regina’s elbows were propped on her knees so she could hide her face in her hands. She was crying.

The curse bubbled up in Emma. How selfish could she be? Didn’t she realize this was affecting Regina as much it was affecting her? Just because Regina was better at masking it didn’t mean she didn’t feel anything.

“Regina, you know I’m not any good at this.” Emma had a feeling her stupid words wouldn’t sooth, so she rubbed along Regina’s back and squeezed her thigh to make up for her raging inadequacies. “Please forgive me. I’m no good…”

“I – I break everything I touch.”

Emma shook her head. “Regina, stop.”

“It’s true.” Regina rose from out of her damp hands to claim Emma’s face with them. “And you need to get as far from me as possible. I don’t know how to leave things, Emma. I don’t know how to leave them alone and let them go. You need to go before I make you stay.”

“You don’t have to do this. I’m not going this time. I’m not.” Emma shook her head in the iron grip of Regina’s loving hands. She keeps repeating it in her head, oblivious to the fact that she was speaking out loud. “I’m not. I’m not.”

“Emma,” moaned Regina. She sniffed before kissing her mouth. “Don’t be a fool.” She kissed her again. “ _Go_.”

Emma brought her hand to cup the back of Regina’s head. She kept her pressed into the kiss, prolonging the inevitable.

“I don’t want you to resent me for the rest of your life,” Regina whispered, hiccupping over her sobs, “just because I was selfish and wanted you with me.”

“It’s okay,” squeaked Emma. “You can be selfish.”

The chuckled bubbled up and out of Regina. For a moment she had never felt happier. But then reality set in. Henry and his safety sprang to mind. Where would he get his education? Would he make any friends with their constant travels? He might be forever alienated because of his traitorous mothers. His name would be stained because it carried with it the memory of the day two once honorable woman abandoned the galaxy when it needed them most.

She touched Emma’s hair, dragging it out from root to tip in a soothing motion that had Emma closing her eyes. Her other hand rested on a shoulder, her thumb tracing a clavicle. Regina watched the movements like they were not her own. Emma looked so small right now, so small and so young. She was still a great deal younger than her and had so much life to live. Regina? She had served her time, became famous, traveled to places normal folk hadn’t even heard of. She had even retired. It was time for her to pass out of the history books. She had to step aside for the next generation of captains.

“Your story is just beginning,” Regina said, eyes downturned. “I can’t be a part of it. I have too much baggage and I don’t want to drag you down.”

Emma’s eyes narrowed. “Hey,” she snapped, voice hardened without realizing, “that’s _our_ baggage. Don’t think we have no history. We made it. _Together_. Or what in seven hells was the past seven years about, huh? What was it all for?”

“Love,” Regina answered with a clear voice and a steady heart. “I’m just sorry it took so long to figure that out.”

Emma snorted and brought her hand up to curl a strand of hair behind Regina’s ear. “We’re both idiots.”

Regina smiled. “Perhaps.” She leaned into the palm and kept it their with her hand on Emma’s. “I still love you though.”

“I think I love you more because of it.”

Regina chuckled. Her face became warm with sentiment and her cheeks hurt and her heart was so _full_ that she couldn’t stand the thought of parting. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around Emma’s shoulders. They sank into the embrace, allowing basic gravity to bring them closer. She closed her eyes, feeling the broken sigh and the lips tremble on her neck.

The captain of the U.S.S. _Storybrooke_ used to believe that she could do anything she set her mind to – alone. She went through countless first officers, looking for just the right candidate to compliment her skills, but it only took one to make her see the flaw in her logic. There was no love in her command. The _Storybrooke_ was her home and there was no warmth there. There were no friendships, no easy banter or humor, no pancake breakfasts or silly sim game rivalries. There was no forgiveness and no soul in how Regina commanded her crew until Emma came along.

Accepting the flaw did not come easy. Emma pointed a finger at what was wrong and Regina just couldn’t accept it. For one, because no one had made her look in the mirror. No one spoke to her in a way that challenged her way of thinking. She could not comply for another reason being that she had fallen in love. Mother taught her otherwise. Cosmofleet taught her not to develop romantic attachments with subordinates. Regina couldn’t accept love, friendship, pancakes, or any of those things because for so many years she had been told it wasn’t logical, it wasn’t befitting of a commander of the greatest starship in the fleet.

But then everything changed when Emma left. Regina’s world turned upside down and with it all her notions of “logic.”

Regina found that she could not breathe without Emma. Her lungs could do the work but her heart was just not in it. She could not count the beats when Emma was absent because there was no reason to, not when the one person keeping it going was not around.

While Regina could still function as a human being and go about all the necessary things it took to survive – breathe, sleep, eat, do her job – it pained her to love because her greatest had left her. She could not befriend because her only friend had others in need. Pancakes didn’t taste as sweet. Adventure didn’t come with the same thrill.

Most of all, Regina could not forgive the one person who was responsible for putting her in this position: herself. Emma may have taught her love’s worth, but she hadn’t taught her how to let go of it. That, Regina would have to learn for herself.

“I don’t know what is going to happen,” Regina said, extended the hug if only to keep Emma from seeing her ache, “but I need you to know that I always loved that red leather jacket.”

Emma choked over her sob. Her nails dug into Regina’s back, begging time to stand still.

Regina couldn’t even bring herself to smile when she had said it. They were shuddering as one now and in complete denial.

“ _Regina_.”

Regina’s neck muffled the watery moan, but it rang strong and true through her. She cursed her wretched composure – so many years of perfecting it, what the hell good was it to her now? She knew this wouldn’t end unless she acted.

Her fingers raked through blonde hair in a bit of a scramble for purchase. She gripped the strands and kissed Emma’s temple. “Emma,” she whispered against the pulsing nerve and kissed it again. She felt the tear trail down her cheek and dampen the matted hair. “Emma, it’s time…”

“I am _not_ finished yet.” Emma blurted it out in a rush and in one awkward sloppy motion only she could achieve she broke the hug and brought their mouths together.

Regina cupped the back of Emma’s neck and kissed back in earnest, circling her arms around Emma as she did the same. What Emma did through reckless certainty, Regina sought to perfect and make passionate. They kissed as lovers whose flesh hadn’t yet met. They kissed for life and love and the future. Vanity, jealousy, and manipulation held no sway over them here. Only a sturdy foundation of devotion.

When the long kiss goodbye ended, they parted inch by aching inch until their eyes met.

Emma looked from Regina’s eyes to her lips in a never ending cycle as if she was committing them to memory. “Take care of yourself.”

“For you,” Regina whispered breathlessly, “my friend and my love,” she sighed warmly against the cheek, “anything.”


	11. Chapter 11

There was one last thing for Regina to take care of before meeting up with Admiral Hopper and the rest of the fleet. They had one last jump before reaching the rendezvous point. Right now the _Storybrooke_ was taking a brief pause for last minute repairs, improvements, procedures, and all around battle readiness.

Regina swept out of the turbolift with masked anxiety. Her face may not give it away but her dress certainly did. Her gray uniform was not up to its stiffly pressed composure and her boots hadn’t taken a shining of polish in weeks. The floors of the shuttle bay held more shine and polish than the captain.

Regina could have copped to any number excuses. The only one that mattered had her holed up in her quarters for the past hour and crying her heart out for what she was about to do.

This task was more about personal responsibility for Regina. It served as a distinct one from her captain’s duties but no less important. In fact, it just happened to be more of a priority to her than any duty she had ever been appointed for.

When Regina arrived at her destination she stopped and clasped her shirt collar. Ren was just finishing the cargo inspection. Her hair was tied back in a high knotted bun and she looked fresh in her gray and black fatigues. The personal transport had room for two passengers and for some selfish reason Regina felt slighted by that.

Emma told her not to worry so much. Leaving Henry in the care of Ren would give him a fighting chance if this engagement went south. There was no one safer. Ren was a fighter herself and had made a life out of living in the shadows. Regina made Ren promise that if they didn’t return, she would do whatever she could to help Henry become a man his mothers could be proud of. From then on, he would be in the guardianship of Ren and August.

Though startled by Regina and Emma’s absolute trust in her, Ren swore to take care of Henry. She would make it her mission, and a declaration of that kind was something Regina could appreciate.

Once able to swallow her pride, Regina released her collar from a fretful grip and proceeded to the transport’s captain.

“Regina,” Ren greeted. She put down her checklist and came forward. She held out a hand that was shaken with equal cordiality. “It has been an honor and a pleasure. Have you come to see us off?”

Despite her own formality, this woman’s professionalism still rattled Regina. Maybe it was the ex-terrorist spy thing. Or perhaps the hard shell response to all the losses sustained in her lifetime.

At the exact moment Regina was swallowing the lump in her throat, Henry descended from the transport’s ramp. Her eyes roved over his boyish appearance: wispy bangs, untucked shirt, slightly upturned Swan nose, and all.

“May I have a moment with him?”

The last scraps of dignity behind the request caused Ren’s eyes widened. “Oh! Yes, of course. I’ll just be…” She jerked her thumb towards the cargo area and began walking in that direction.

Henry approached with his thumbs hooked in his back pockets. He came to a shuffling halt, sneakers squeaking in the cavernous hanger.

To prevent any unnecessary embarrassment for either of them, Regina stuck to her script.

“You forgot something.”

She held out the backpack. It was the blue one he had owned since he was four-years-old. The zipper had been repaired three times and it was fraying at the straps, but it stayed dependable through the playground dates, the school days, and weekend trips to the beach.

Henry unzipped the bag and pulled out a stuffed animal. The polar bear came with an off white color. Over the years, habitual swapping took it its toll – Henry, when he had nightmares about Emma forgetting her way home, and Regina, when he seemed as far away from her as Emma. When Toschie had first been bestowed upon her it was already in dire shape, so she made sure to use the best detergent and stitch up the vulnerable places with a loving touch. She continued to improve its condition, knowing Henry’s deep love for the animal.

Henry looked at the stuffed animal with a pained expression. He bit into his lower lip before zipping the backpack and returning it. “I wanted to leave him with you. It’s sort of our thing.” Henry looked around nervously and scuffed the toe of his shoe into the floor. He mumbled the rest. “It’s your turn to have him.”

The corner of Regina’s mouth turned up but she quickly stifled it. “Of course,” she replied with a studious expression and accepted the pastime. “I’m sorry your mother couldn’t be here.”

Henry shrugged. “We talked before she left. She seemed in a bit of a hurry.”

A similar pang affected Regina. “Emma is not one to talk about her feelings. She keeps a lot inside.”

“I don’t think that’s the reason but okay.”

Sighing, Regina took in her surroundings behind watery eyes. For them being on the brink of war, the hanger boasted little traffic. Perhaps they were doing as Regina was doing now and bidding their own goodbyes. Last hugs, last words…

Regina shook her head idly. Stick to the script.

“Are you all packed? ” Before he could answer she riddled him with another round instructions. “Make sure you have a sweatshirt with you because it gets – “

“Cold in the cockpit, I know.”

Her lungs took in a renewed breath. Before realizing it, she took a foolish step closer and freed herself from the heart-shaped cage she made for herself.

“Henry,” she grasped his hands in hers and stared back into his terror-stricken eyes, “please don’t take this as me abandoning you. Emma and I… we discussed this at length and agreed that Ren taking you away was best. We want you safe, and this is no place for a child.”

Henry was about to roll his eyes yet held back. “You say this is not a place for children, but remember when you brought me with to the Raiders? Back when they weren't to be trusted?"

The uncanny similarities between Henry and Emma became startlingly real. Regina groaned internally. “That’s different. We knew who our enemies were then.”

A sigh of frustration let out. He cocked his head and demanded, “Don’t I get a say? I have just as much a right to be involved as you and Ma. Ren gave _me_ the story book, remember? If it weren’t for me she wouldn’t have trusted the prophecy. “

“I don’t think you understand just how important you really are, Henry. And I don’t mean simply in regard to Emma’s destiny. You are…” Regina clamped her lips on the sudden tremble. She inhaled deeply through her nose and let out a rattling huff. “I only had you for four years and I don’t claim to have raised you,” her thumbs rubbed his cheeks and she tipped her head just as tears started falling, “but I will always think of you as my _son_.”

She wanted to say it so many times. She wanted to prove to neighbors and colleagues that, yes, this mop-haired boy with a fascination for fairy tales was indeed her son and not some charge she merely had claim to on paper. All she strived for was to make him proud. She wanted to be what he needed her to be and so much more, regardless of the insoluble blood in their veins. While it was true they were not related, she would give every last drop of blood if it meant this boy’s continued existence. If pure happiness ran through her veins she’d spill quarts of it just to prove to the universe that she’d do anything for her _son_.

“I never intended to interfere between you and your mother. She is your family, she gave birth to you. I don’t wish to make you forget that.”

Henry breathed shakily in and out, in and out at a rapid pace as if he had ran miles around the Earth. He caught his breath, fighting the urge to fist his hands to the tears seeping from his eyes. “Mom,” he murmured quietly like a plea and lunged.

“Oh, Henry.” Regina caught him and held his trembling to hers, so close he could seep past her ribs and find ownership in her heart. She collapsed to her knees with her boy in her arms. If he had been hers for these past seven years then she had surely been his for that long.

Mom, she repeated over and over in her head. Was this a dream? Had she fallen asleep to a holoprogram and now feeling the imprint of deja vu? No, Henry seemed to answer with his fiercely crushing hug. His naming her did not amount to betrayal. Her accepting it with open arms did not slight Emma.

Regina had once been told that his first word was “Ma” and since then that had always been Emma’s title. Regina had always been known as “Regina” or the affectionate “Cap’n” even though it felt more honest to call her differently. As he hit his growth spurt, “Cap’n” should have seemed babyish of him. He was ten and at the stage of proving himself a capable individual with his own curfew and dietary restrictions. He himself had insisted to Regina on a dozen occasions that he was grown up enough to take the bus or walk home from school unattended. But on every single one of those occasions Regina saw nothing but a ten-year-old boy and son of a star chasing idiot. In her heart, she was as much his child as Emma’s. He was the son she never had but always wanted despite her demanding career. In return, Henry envisioned himself as he always dreamed of being: the captain’s son.

In the expansive hanger, Regina and Henry took up minimal space with their hug. They clung for what seemed like the first time – and to their tear-streaked expressions, the last.

“Thank you for bringing Emma home,” Regina whispered into his hair. Her bottom lip touched his ear briefly before she kissed it. Accepting what she failed to admit after Emma’s return. “You did what I couldn’t do. You are _so_ brave.”

Henry had no response but to sob tears of forgiveness into her shoulder. All the times he stomped his feet up the stairs for being punished, throwing a fit because she worked late three days in a row, screaming horrible things at her for no reason other than the jealousy he knew she was suffering from all these years. She didn't deserve this behavior.

He felt remorse for every tantrum and pathetic screw up, sensing the lack of a chance to do it later. In spite of her failings as a daughter and a captain and, at times, a guardian, he forgave her. He did so with tears and murmurs and an aching heart. All for the love of his captain, his friend, and his mother.

* * *

Emma and her squadron were waiting at the very edge of the Reach. In addition to the thousands of other starfighter teams, Emma’s gathered in a defensive formation. The vortex had since halted its growth, but continued to churn and crackle with blue energy. It gave everyone including Emma the creeps.

She would have felt more comfortable getting to know her teammates but time was of the essence. She knew each of their names and ranks and that was about it. Maybe if they all got out of this alive she’d buy them all a round of fire whiskey. Gods’ knew they all would need it.

There was one last minute addition to her team of Raider pilots. Moira had not only volunteered to serve on the defensive line but asked to be specifically assigned to Commander Swan’s squadron. Emma wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

They hadn’t spoken a word since taking up position. When one of them did break the silence, they did so over a private radio channel.

 _“I know we have had our differences,”_ Moira started, shocking Emma out of reverie, _“but however you feel about my opinions –“_

“Don’t,” Emma’s hand tightened around her stick before releasing it and patting it dry on her thigh. The jumpsuit may be sweat resistant, but it didn’t make her feel impervious to it. She sighed over the comm and said, “You don’t have to do that. I realize what’s at stake. I just want to get through this in one piece.”

_“We all do, but it may not be as simple as you think. Have you ever read the history books?”_

Emma raised an eyebrow, wondering where this was going. “How far back are you talking?”

 _“350 years ago. My mother is a professor on Earth. She calls that time period_ Too Old World for Us to Care _, but she always manages to fit it into one of her courses. When my brother and I were old enough to understand the nature of cause and effect, she told us of a battle that took place.”_

“Back when it was _Too Old World for Us to Care_?”

_“Yes. The event was called the Great War. Soldiers on both sides didn’t agree on much but they did share the belief that their war would only last a few months. It ended up drawing on for four years.”_

“Is this supposed to cheer me up?”

_“I want to make sure you have no delusions about what’s coming out of that vortex.”_

“Wow, thanks for the support.”

Moira fell silent. _“I’ve never fought a war, you know? I’m just as new at this as you.”_

Emma cleared her throat. “Well, don’t get ahead of yourself. This may not turn into a ‘Great War’ or anything. They might just ask to be taken to our leader.” She chuckled with Moira. “Let’s keep an open mind.”

_“Sounds like a plan, Commander.”_

Emma shook her head. She’d have to get used to hearing that. It did have an odd effect on her. She didn’t usually have to draw support because she preferred the solo gigs. She rarely depended on people for anything because she usually didn’t have the presence to be noticed. Now Emma felt her voice strengthening. Her words affected and her ideas were respected. Moira along with the men and women in her squadron were recognizing her as a rational-minded individual, their commander.

Emma blew out a long breath and mumbled, “The times are a changing.”

The navi-computer on her console alerted her to an incoming ship. Emma perked up to the sensors and craned her neck to catch a glimpse through her cockpit window. A silver light flashed against the black canvas of outer space and streaking out of it was the most beautiful sight Emma had ever seen.

She hailed the ship with a wide smile. “You really know how to make an entrance, Admiral.”

 _“It’s just Captain, now,”_ Regina said. _“I left Cosmofleet in the capable hands of Admiral Hopper. He always had a better conscience than I.”_

The _Storybrooke_ slowed its velocity as if Emma’s greeting had commanded it. When it reached the front lines of the Raider defense force, it gave every pilot on the line a sense of relief. To have a starship like the _Storybrooke_ with its agility and power on their side put nearly every ill feeling to rest.

 _“In any case, my place is with the_ Storybrooke _. It always has been.”_

Emma got the feeling there was something implied behind that. Of course Regina was every bit the loyalist to her people. Her being there now perhaps suggested that she still considered Emma as a part of her crew. The thought caused her breath to catch. No one had her back like the captain, not her foster parents and not her instructors at the academy. Even her friends lacked the relentlessness that came with Regina’s support. She did whatever it took to steer Emma clear of the cliff edge, even when Emma gave her hell for it. Regina would slap her across the face just to knock some sense into her. Gods only knew how many occasions she took advantage of the opportunity.

“Well, it’s not like Cosmofleet can’t take care of itself.”

Aboard the _Storybrooke’s_ main bridge, Regina stood with hands clasped behind her back and suppressing a snort. She walked to the forward view screen and scanned the field for Emma’s starfighter. “Unlike you, dear.”

“That’s why I have Regina Mills. She may be a galaxy renowned commander, but to me she’s a solid woman who knows how to keep me fed.”

Regina’s heart prickled warmly to the compliment. “Is that a veiled order to make you pancakes?”

“It’s intended more as a request.” There was a pause before Emma spoke again and when she did her voice seemed shakier than normal. “And, ah, maybe as a sort of reception? Because… erhm, maybe it’s time I make some kind of a, you know, a commitment.”

Regina’s eyebrows furrowed. Her eyes searched more anxiously for Emma out there in the darkness. “Emma, are you…?”

“You’re right,” Emma said swiftly over the gasp. “It’s a bit soon for that.” She shook her head, cursing under her breath. How blasted stupid was she? Proposing over a radio transmission… What an idiot. “We should hold off on that discussion and see where we are tomorrow.” She winced to herself and hoped she didn’t just blow things to space parts. “That okay with you?”

Regina reached out as if Emma were right there. In a split second, she saw the sleek starfighter amongst the dozens of squadrons. She could barely make out the white-gold strands under headgear. Finally able to get a glimpse, Regina was able to breathe.

But when she realized the distance between them, her fingertips stopped just short of grazing the transparisteel window. All she could do was stare out the view screen and single out the lone pilot with passionate attention.

She swallowed over the lump in her throat and nodded vigorously. “Alright.”

She must not have been loud enough because Emma had to strain to catch it.

At that moment, all their fears became a reality. Their galaxy seemed to shrink in the midst of the widening portal for what was coming through. They could not determine whatever the cyan rings of electricity were opening for. A traveler from another time… a race of infinite intelligence… a weapon of annihilation…

“Regina? Are you still with me?”

Based on the slight tremble in the question, Regina sensed Emma was witnessing the same slip of a shadow from the vortex’s epicenter. She had a feeling because she knew all the tones of Emma’s voice like she knew the contours of her face.

Gathering her wits for Emma’s sake as well as for her own, Regina threw her shoulders back and stared down the opposition. “I’m with you. Are you ready?”

Emma knew what was being asked of her. Many things had been asked of her since she joined Cosmofleet and even before her time as first officer when she gave birth to a son. These duties included motherhood and friendship, the academy and her commission in the fleet, even the prophecy when she couldn’t accept it. But what of the unexpected duties? The unspoken gaps Emma was made to bridge? Those were the hardest to achieve, to overcome all the fallen and all the slain she had mourned and was still mourning… and the union between rivalry and affection.

It all lead her to this moment, to the threat of whatever came through that energy portal. To her son’s future. To the culmination of several years figuring out what in seven hells she and Regina meant to each other. To finally accept the promise Emma hadn’t hesitated to share over the radio waves.

With renewed courage in her lungs and a steadily beating heart, she slowly opened her eyes to meet the next challenge and whatever future it had in store for her. At the last second Emma pulled a rascally grin.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three years ago as I was exiting the theatre after watching Star Trek: Into Darkness I was assaulted by a vicious plot bunny. The little imp would not go away and five hours later I had about twenty pages of outline and was shaking from an excess of coffee and inspiration. When I came up with this idea I intended to write a story in three parts. It wasn’t until I finished the second piece that I realized my intention of a trilogy was too limited to encompass the journey of these characters. There was so much that needed to be said and so many tales I wanted to share with you. Despite that, I have decided to stay true to my original plan. The Cosmofleet series will end with part three. I will say that I have notes for a fourth installation, but because of the content and themes it would not be considered a part of the Cosmofleet series (despite similar characters and events). I have no plans to write it at this time. I hope I have satisfied my readership enough to find comfort in this comprehensive trilogy. 
> 
> Thanks to those of whom have joined me and my (borrowed) characters on this interstellar voyage. Live long and ship strong.


End file.
